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A 







A PIONEER HISTORY 

OF 

Becker County 

MINNESOTA 



INCLUDING 



A BRIEF 
ACCOUNT OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY 



AS EMBRACED IN THE MINERAL. VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL 
KINGDOMS, AND A HISTORY OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT 
OF THE COUNTY; ALSO, INCLUDING A LARGE AMOUNT OF 
VALUABLE HISTORICAL INFORMATION COLLECTED BY 



MRS. JESSIE a' WEST. 



AND NUMEROUS ARTICLES WRITTEN BY VARIOUS EARLY 

PIONEERS RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF 

THE SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS OF 

BECKER COUNTY 



BY ALVIN H. WILCOX 



PIONEER PRESS COMPANY 
ST. PAUL, MINN 

1907 



Errata 



Page 14U— First line, the word "cub" is superfluous. 

Page 251— Fifth line from bottom, read 1S95 instead of " 1905." 

Page 2d7— Sketches of John George Morrison and George A Morrison, 

following, were written by George A. Morison.O 
Page 280— Eleventh line, read Tim and Redpath, instead of "Jim 

and Redpath." 
Page 3l5— Nameof Mrs. Jessie C, West, as historian, should be left out. 
Page 313— Tenth line from bottom read Sec. 18 instead of " 19." 
Page S63- Fourth line from bottom, read Rosanian instead of 

" Rossmas." 
Page 368-Eleventli line from bottom, date of marriage should read 

NOV.2S, 1S66. 
Page 373— Fifteenth and 17th lines, read Sec. S instead of "6." 
Page 426— Fourth line, read a long distance, instead, of " the long 

distance." 
Pages 436 7 — Appears the name of Rev. K. " Bjorge," but should read 

B Jot go. 
Page 469— Third line. History of Lake View, read /. B. Siinzuous in- 
stead of "A. B " 
Page 475— Article regarding Pelican Valley Navigation Co. was 

written by John K. West, of Detroit, and his name 

should have been appended. 
Page 501— Twelfth line, read birthplace of Mrs. Ebeltoft, ^orwa^ in- 
stead of 'Sweden." 
Page 517— First line, read 1847 instead of " 1874." 
Page 524— Last name in sketch of Hugh Sullivan, read Ole D. Olson 

instead of 'Ole I." 
Page 531— Tiie three first iii7es should go to the bottom of same page. 
Page 540— The last half of seventh and four following lines, should 

follow tirst line on page 541. 
Page 563— The words both hands full but should precede the last 

line on page. 
Page 566-Fifth line, for "Carl Campbell" read C. M. Campbell. 
Page see- Nineteenth line read 29th June. 
Page 591 — Peneath cut in upper right hand corner, read Mr. and Mrs. 

O.J.Jahr. Beneath cut in lower left hand corner, read 

Nels Nelson Viger. 
Page 602- Fourth paragraph, 3rd line, read Charles Schnitzer, instead 

of "A." 

Page 6U-Fourth line read 1802 instead of " 1S62." 

Page 674— Transpose names under cuts. 

Page 686— In title line, read Toad Lake instead of " Good Lake." 

Page 695— Sixth paragraph, omit name of John O'Neil. 

Page 736— That part of first paragraph stating that Dr. Emma K. 

Ogden served as an army nurse, is incorrect. 
Page 738— First line should read, " W. J. Morrow, Jan. 3, 18S7, to Jan. 5. 

1697." 



PREFACE. 



The History of Becker County, here presented to the public, 
is the result of long and patient labor and research, bestowed 
upon it with a view of producing a brief presentation of its 
natural history, including that of the mineral, vegetable and 
animal kingdoms, and also to produce an authentic and con- 
nected narrative of events of general importance and interest, 
which have occurred in the early settlement of the territory now 
included within the limits of Becker County, or in which its 
residents have been actors ; confining the accotmt as closely as 
possil)le to the count}', and its present and former inhabitants ; 
referring to outside matters only as far as necessary to show 
the connection of events. 

In the preparation of this work, no labor has been spared 
in gathering historical material from, and calling to ni}- assist- 
ance the most thoroughly informed citizens of the county. It 
has been my object to collect all facts obtainable, and as veracity 
and the unimpeachable truth are the life, and the heart and 
soul of history, I have been equally diligent in excluding every- 
thing of doubtful authenticity. 

This work is intended chiefly as a pioneer history and a 
special effort has been made to collect and record such historical 
information as is liable soon to evade our grasp, and pass for- 
ever beyond our reach, with an addition of such incidents of 
more recent occurrence as may be of especial interest, delegating 
to some younger historian the task of recording the more com- 
monplace events of recent years. 

Perhaps more space has been allotted to the early days of 
the county than will be of interest to the present generation, 
but pioneers hope to be pardoned by those who came later 
for clinging with a vivid and aft'ectionate recollection to the 
memorable pioneer past, and for recalling, and lingering with 
feelings of pride and friendship around the memories of the 
days that are no more. 

I at first started out with the intention of writing up a sketch 
of all the early settlers, and particularly to publish the army ex- 
perience of every old soldier in Becker County, presuming and 



4 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

guessing that tliere would be as many as fifty, but when I came 
to count them up and found that more than three hundred 
soldiers of the Civil War were now living or had lived in Becker 
County, my head began to swim around and around, and I 
gave it up. I have since told some of my friends that I was 
not writing biographies of the early settlers or old soldiers ex- 
cept of such as had died, and so far as any of them have ex- 
pressed themselves, they have assured me that there would be 
no ill-will or feelings of jealousy on their part if they were 
left out under those conditions. I have, however, inserted a few, 
of people who have left the county, and also a few of the very 
earliest settlers, who are still living. So if any one is disap- 
pointed in not finding his name on the biographical list, he can 
attribute it to the fact that he is still in the land of the living. 

As many of the people of our county well remember, Mrs. 
Jessie C. West, of Detroit, had for several years before her 
death been gathering material for a history of Becker County, 
and had collected cjuite a large amount of valuable historical 
information. Her papers have since been placed in my hands, 
and from them I have selected a large number of articles and 
items which I at first intended to give a separate place in my 
book by inserting them all together by themselves; but after 
a further examination of the various articles, I decided that they 
would be better appreciated, and would add more to the interest 
of the work, and would be more interesting in and of themselves 
if they were distributed throughout the work, where they would 
naturally fit in and connect with the various subjects of a kindred 
nature with themselves. 

In order to give her due credit for all the articles used be- 
longing to her collection, I have placed her name under the 
lower right-hand corner of all articles written by herself, and 
where they were compiled by her or furnished her by some 
one else, I have placed the name of the author under the lower 
right-hand corner of the article, and have placed Mrs. West's 
name under the left lower corner of the same article. 

All articles written for me by other individuals will have 
the name of the writer prefixed or annexed, and wherever there 
is no name attached, either at the head or the foot of the article, 
your humble servant is supposed to be the author. 

A. H. Wilcox. 



IT IS IMPORT J NT 

T/jat you read the preface before reading 
the hook proper in order to fully understand 
the authorship of the -carious articles. 



Table of Contents. 



I'reface 3 

CIIAI'TKR r. 
Becker County Created 9 

CIIAPTKR ir. 
General George L. I'ecker 15 

CIIAl'TER TIL 
Geology of l^.ecker County IT 

CHAPTER IV. 
Lakes and Rivers 19 

CILM'TLR \'. 

Wild Trees and Plants of Piecker County 23 

CIL\PTER XL 
Praiiies and Natin-nl Parks 41 

CHAPTER \'II. 

Wild Animals of Becker County 43 

The Buffalo — Moose — Elk — Caribou — 
Common Deer — Antelope — Panther — 
Lynx — Wild Cat — Timber Wolf — 
Coyote or Prairie Wolf — Red Fox- 
Cross Fox — Silver Gray Fox — Black 
Fox — Grizzly Bear — Black Bear — 
Wolverine — Fisher - — Pine Marten — 
Otter — Badger ■ — Skunk — Raccoon — 
Opossum — Mink — Ermine — Weasel — 
Bat — Jack Rabbit — Northern Hare, 
or Timber Rabbit — Cottontail Rabbit 
— Beaver — ^Musk Rat — Porcupine — 
Woodchuck — liarn Rat — Black Squir- 
rel — Gray Squirrel — Red Squirrel — 
Flying Squirrel — Chipmunk — Pocket 
Gopher ■ — Gray Gopher — Speckled 
Gopher — Field Mouse — Deer Mouse — 
LTouse Mouse — Jttmping Mouse — Mole. 

CLLVPTER \-TIT. 

List of Birds of Becker County 159 

CHAPTER IX. 
Fishes of Becker County 191 

CHAPTER X. 

How was this Country first Peopled.. 195 

CHAPTER XL 

Chi;i]iewa Indians 196 

CHAPTER XII. 
Abstract of Title 200 

CHAPTER Xlll. 
The fust Inhabitants 210 



CHAPTER XI\'. 

Birch-bark Canoes and Canoe Travel.. 21() 

CHAPTER X\'. 

The Old Red River Road 217 

CH.VPTER X\'L 
I'irst Settlement by White People 220 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Northern Pacific Explorations 234 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

History of the White Earth Reservation 239 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Organization of Becker County 275 

CHAPTER XX. 
History of Burlington Township 277 

CHAPTER XXL 

History of Detroit Township 315 

CH.VPTER XXII. 

History of Audubon Township 373 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
History of Lake Park Township 412 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
History of Cormorant Townshij) 44i 

CHAPTER XXV. 

History of First_ Settlement of Lake 
Eunice Townshin 4oh 

CHAPTER XX\'I. 
History of Lake View Township 4<i9 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

History of Richwood Township 479 

CHAPTER XXVIIT. 
History of Hamden Township 49i; 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

History of Cuba Township 510 

CHAPTER XXX. 
My first three Years in Becker County 530 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Mosquitoes, Prairie Fires and Grass- 
hojjpers ■"' 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The First Law Suit in Becker County. 582 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

County Seat Controversy 584 

CPIAPTER XXXIV. 

History of Atlanta Township 592 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

History of Walworth Township 594 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

History of Erie Township 599 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

History of Holmesville Township GOfi 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

History of Osage Township GIO 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

History of Carsonville Township C23 

CHAPTER XL. 

History of Shell Lake Townshi,. 640 

CHAPTER XLI. 
History Grand Park Township G43 

CHAPTER XL 1 1. 
History of Height of Land Township. 647 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
Shell Prairie Road 654 

CHAPTER XLI\'. 

History of Silver Leaf Township 659 

CHAPTER XLV. 
History of Evergreen Township 663 



CHAPTER XL\"L 

History of Spruce Grove Township... GilG 

CHAPTER XL\'II. 
History of Runeberg Township G71 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 
History of Green Valley Township.... 677 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

History of Wolf Lake Township GS3 

CHAPTER L. 

History Toad Lake Township 686 

CHAPTER LI. 
History of Two Inlets Township 688 

CHAPTER LII. 

History of Savannah Township 692 

CHAPTER LIII. 

Organization of White Earth Township 70O 
Organization of Calloway Township... 700 

CHAPTER LIV. 
The Maple, the Oak and the Pine 701 

CHAPTER LV. 

Nelson-Kindred Convention 716 

CHAPTER LVI. 

Building the Court-House and Jail.... 723 

CHAPTER L\"II. 
The Seasons 72S 

CHAPTER LN'III. 
Old Soldiers 732 

CHAPTER L\'IX. 
List of Becker County Officers 736 



V 



History of Becker County 
Minnesota. 



Chapter I. 

BECKER COUNTY CREATED. 

Becker County was established by an act of the Legislature, 
approved March i8th, 1858. That is to say, its exterior bound- 
aries were designated and recorded ; it was given a place on the 
map of Minnesota and named Becker County in honor of Gen. 
George L. Becker, of St. Paul. There were, however^ no white 
people living in the county for ten years afterwards. 

The territory included within the boundaries of Becker Coun- 
ty is as follows: All of Townships 138, 139, 140, 141 and 142 
north, of Ranges 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 west of the 
Fifth Principal Meridian — forty townships in all. 

There had been no county or township lines established in 
or around Becker County at the time it was created. 

In i860 the Fifth Guide Meridian was established between 
Ranges 38 and 39 as far north as the south boundary of the White 
Earth Reservation, and the Tenth Correction line, which is the 
line between Townships 140 and 141, and which is also the south 
line of the reservation, was also established. These lines were 
run b}' J. W. Myers, Deputy U. S. Surveyor. There were no 
more government lines run imtil 1870, when government sur- 
veying was begun in earnest, and by the close of the year 1872 
the county was about all surveyed. 

The base line from which these townships are munbered 
runs east and west across the middle of the state of Arkansas, 



lo A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 

intersecting' the Mississippi River near the city of Helena in 
Phelps County. The Fifth Principal Meridian, from which these 
Ranges are numbered, intersects this base line about twenty- 
eight miles west of the Mississippi, near the little village of ]\Iar- 
vell. This point of intersection is called the initial point. 

This ^^leridian line runs both north and south from this point, 
and in running north intersects the Mississippi River north of St. 
Louis where it is discontinued, all land east of that river in 
Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota being surveyed from the third 
and fourth Princi]:)al ^Meridians. 

The surveys from the Fifth Principal Meridian cover all of 
the vState of Louisiana west of the ^Mississippi, all the States 
of Arkansas, ]Missouri, Iowa, North and South Dakota and all 
of Minnesota west of Range 24 and the Mississippi River, except 
a little corner around St. Paul. 

The famous Hot Springs in Arkansas are in Township Xo. 
2, south, the south tier of townships of Missouri is Township 
No. 22, north, the north tier of townships of Iowa is Township 
No. 100, north, and the north tier of townships in Minnesota is 
Township No. 164, north. 

Before Becker County was created, it was a part of Stearns 
County. After Douglas County was organized a change was 
made, and it was attached to that county. 

The plat of the old townsite of Detroit, that was laid out 
in the spring of 1857, ^vhere the village of Frazee now stands, 
was recorded at St. Cloud on the 17th day of June, 1857, and 
Dr. David Pyles" certificate of appointment as notary public 
was recorded at Alexandria on the 19th day of January, 1S69. 

These are the only liecker County documents I know of 
being recorded in cither count}-, Imt there were probably others. 



12 A PlONIiKR tllSTORY OF BijCKEK CoUNTY. 

LETTER FROM GEN. BECKER. 

St. Pall, Alarch 17, 1894. 
]\Iy Dear Madam : 

I am in receipt of your esteemed favor of the 14th inst. 

Your purpose to collect the material for a history of the 
county in which you live, is to be most highly commended. The 
early settlers of these new regions are too apt to neglect what is 
really one of the most important elements in historical studies, 
the preservation of the local happenings and traditions of the 
primitive days which constitute the formative period of dis- 
tinct localities. I hope you may succeed in what you have 
undertaken anfi though I cannot add much to your stock of 
knowledge, I am glad to contribute what I can. 

Becker County was established by act of the legislature of 
this state, March 18, 1858. (See Kelly Statutes, Vol. i. Chap. 8. 
Sec. 734, page 216.) 

At this date I was in Washington as one of the members 
of Congress elect, from Minnesota, awaiting the admission of 
the State into the Union. The State was admitted Mav 11, 
1858. 

While thus awaiting the action of Congress on the subject of 
admission, I received a letter from the Hon. J. D. Cruttenden, 
a member of the House of Representatives of Minnesota, and 
chairman of the Committee on Towns and Counties, which 
stated that in organizing the newer portions of the state into 
counties, the committee had decided to give my name to a 
county in the northwest; a region then almost unknown. 3ilr. 
Cruttenden represented what was known as the Twenty-first 
District, wdiich embraced the counties of Morrison, Crow Wing 
and Mille Lacs. This honor was unsought by me, unexpected, 
and, as I thought then, and think now, undeserved. 

Nevertheless, the legislature enacted the law, and ever since, 
Becker County has had a name and place on the map and in 
the world. 

My business pursuits and engagements were such during 
these years that I had no occasion to visit that part of the 
state. My attention was called to the fact that there was a 
county in that region bearing mv name, bv the Rev. Dr. Noble, 



A PioNKiiR History of Becker County. 13 

then pastor of the House of Hope in this city, and now pastor of 
one of the largest churches in Chicago. 

Meeting' him one day on the street here, probably in 1870, 
he informed me that he had just returned from an Indian pay- 
ment in the northwest which he attended on behalf of the govern- 
ment as one of the witnesses. 

He grew eloquent over the region he had traversed ; men- 
tioned the lakes and streams and groves and rolling prairies and 
ended by saying that it was in Becker County, and he thought 
it the finest county in the state. 

I replied, jokingly, that there was a certain fitness in nam- 
ing the finest county in the state after one of its best men. 
Don't think there was any vanity in this. Those who know 
me well, will bear witness that I am incapable of saying such 
a thing seriously. 

I am very sorry I cannot say more to you about the early 
history of your county. 

AA'ith reference to my title of "General," which I have carried 
for the last thirty years, I have to say, that the first governor 
of the state made me one of his aides, with the rank of brigadier 
general. I owe this title to Governor Sibley's appointment as 
one of his military family. The history of my military services, 
if written, would be as brief as the chapter on snakes in Ireland ; 
there are none. 

And now as the Apostle Paul says at the close of one of his 
I'^pistles to the Galatians, "Ye see how large a letter I have writ- 
ten unto you with mine own hand." 

Very sincerely yours, 

Geo. L. Becker. 
Mrs. John K. West. 
Detroit. 




GEN. GEO. L. BECKER. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 15 



Chapter II. 

GENERAL GEORGE L. BECKER. 

Gen. Becker was born at Locke. Cayuga County, New York, 
Jan. 4, 1829. He obtained his early education at the district 
school of his native town, and afterwards took a course at 
Moravia Academy. Later he entered the preparatory depart- 
ment of Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio.' In 1841 
he removed with his parents to Ann Arbor, Mich., and entered 
the Michigan University in 1842. graduating in 1846 with the 
second class that went out from that institution. He arrived 
in St. Paul, Oct. 29, 1849, and engaged in the practice of law. 
In 1862 he became land commisioner of the old St. Paul & 
Pacific Railroad, and upon the organization of the first division 
of that road he was made president. That was Feb. 6, 1864, 
and he continued in that position until 1876. He bore his full 
share of the hard work and responsibilities attendant upon the 
completion of the line, and during his presidency several hun- 
dred miles of road were constructed into a country rich in 
resources and needing only a railroad and the settlers which 
would naturally follow it to make it one of the richest in the 
Northwest. He had the pleasure of seeing the road grow from 
a little stub to a long line connecting the Red River with the 
Mississippi and St. Paul with Manitoba. During that time he 
filled many offices of trust and also made several business trips 
to the East and to Europe in the interest of the road. During 
his residence in this state he has held a number of public 
offices. At the first municipal election in St. Paul held under 
the city charter he was elected a member of the council and 
was afterward elected president of the body, in which he served 
two years. In 1856 he was elected mayor of the city and in 
1857 lie was chosen one of the delegates to the constitutional 
convention, acting with the Democratic branch of that body. 
In October of that same year he was elected a representative 
m Congress to take his seat upon the admission of Minnesota 
uito the Union. At the time of the election it was believed 
the state would be entitled to three representatives, but it was 
learned that it was entitled to but two. He drew cuts with 



i6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

James M. Cavanagh and \^'illiam W. Phelps, who had been 
elected as the other two representatives, to see who should 
return home. The general drew the unlucky number. He 
accepted the situation gracefully and returned home. He has 
been a lifelong Democrat, and in 1859, when he was but thirty 
years of age, he was unanimously nominated for governor by 
the Democratic convention, but was defeated by Hon. Alexander 
Ramsey after a hard fight. In i860 he was a delegate to the 
National Democratic Convention at Charleston, S. C, which ad- 
iourned without making a nomination. After the dual nomina- 
tion at Baltimore he supported the Breckenridge and Lane fac- 
tion. He was elected to the state senate in 1868 and served in 
the tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth legislatures. In 1872 
he was again nominated by his party for congress, but was de- 
feated by the Republicans. 

When the state board of railroad and warehouse commis- 
sioners was created in 1885, Gen. Becker was appointed by Gov. 
Hubbard as the democratic member and was reappointed by Govern- 
ors McGill, Merriam and Nelson. His thorough knowledge of rail- 
road afifairs in this state has made him an especially valuable member 
of the board. As a citizen he was universally respected and ad- 
mired as a man of strict integrity and unusual ability. He was 
the democratic candidate for governor of Minnesota in 1894. 
Gen. Becker died in St. Paul, on the 3rd day of January, 1904.— 
St. Paul Pioneer Press. 



A PioNEKR History of Beckkr Count v. 17 

Chapter III. 

GEOLOGY OF BECKER COUNTY. 

Afy claim to being- a geologist is based altogether upon 
practical work, which consists of three years' experience as 
mining engineer in coal mines in Ohio, and three years of gold 
mining in Montana. While employed as land examiner for^he 
Northern Pacific Railroad Company in 1874, '75, 76, 'yy and 
'7%. I was especially instructed to explore and report 'upon the 
probability of the existence of coal in the valleys of the Mis- 
souri, James and Sheyenne Rivers, in what is now North Da- 
kota. 

I reported the existence of an abundance of lignite coal in 
the Missouri Valley, but that there was no probability of its 
existence in the other two valleys. Subsequent developments 
have proved the correctness of my report. They are at present 
mming large quantities of coal in the valley of the Missouri 
and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company has since made 
further explorations in the valleys of the James and Sheyenne 
Rivers, by numerous deep drillings, but no coal has been found. 

In the summer of 1876 I reported the probable existence 
of small quantities of gold in the Sheyenne Valley, a few miles 
above where Lisbon is now located, and washed out a few 
panfuls of gravel, but found no gold. Several years afterward 
quite an excitement broke out over the discovery of gold in 
that same place but there was but little of it. 

But I am drifting away from Becker County. 

My scientific and book knowledge of geology however is 
somewhat like that of M. V. B. Davis, who once got his geology 
and architecture somewhat tangled. One day, when they weTe 
lunldmg the stone schoolhouse in Detroit known as the Holmes 
liuildmg, Davis stood watching one of the stonecutters who 
was dressing down a big niggerhead boulder, making it ready 
for its place in the wall of the building. A reporter for some 
newspaper came along and inquired what the style of archi- 
tecture of the building was going to be, whether' it would be 
Ciothic or Corinthian or Grecian or Ionic or Doric. Davis re- 
plied that he had never heard, but he believed it was goino- 



i8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

to be principally Dornic. Aside from being a good joke, it was 
a very truthful reply and will apply equally as well to the ge- 
ology of Becker County, for all the rocks I have seen in the 
county belong to the "Dornic" or niggerhead, boulder family. 
They are principally granite with now and then a magnesian 
limestone. 

All the limestone boulders are of a whitish color and are 
next to the marble in date of formation. The component parts 
are carbon, lime and a less propoirtion of magnesia, and it makes 
a fair quality of lime. The process of manufacturing lime is 
known to nearly everyone. The principal involved is the burn- 
ing up with an intense heat of the carbon that has held the 
rock together for ages, and which allows the particles of lime 
to separate and form what is called quickdime. 

There was originally quite a sprinkling of limestone blocks 
or boulders in some of the western townships, but they were 
nearly all dug out and burned into lime many years ago by 
the early settlers. The gray boulders are all granite, and were 
originally formed down deep in the bowels of the earth and 
are supposed to have been brought to the surface by upheaval 
in immense masses. The principal bulk of the mountains in 
the Rocky ^Mountain range is granite. It is the foundation stone 
of the earth, and is in fact the old rock itself. 

None of the boulders in Becker County were formed here, but 
were brought from far distant regions, undoubtedly from some 
part of the country of a higher altitude, by icebergs or glaciers. 
Granite is composed of three different ingredients, quartz, feld- 
spar and mica. They do not always exist, however, in the same 
proportion and sometimes either one or another of these parts is 
missing altogether, which accounts for the different appearance 
of some of these boulders. When the mica predominates the rock 
is soft, and after long exposure to the atmosphere begins to 
decompose and the shiny, brassy looking flakes of the mica be- 
come very conspicuous, and are sometimes mistaken for gold. 
Many a tenderfoot in the gold mining regions has been taken 
in with what old miner's call "fool's gold." When the quartz 
predominates the rock is much harder than usual, particularly 
when the mica is missing, and it loses much of its gray color 
and does not resemble the ordinary granite. Bowlders of that 
character are quite frequent in this county. If there are any 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 19 

beds of rock "in place" in Becker County, which means, if there 
are any regular layers of stratified rock remaining' in the same 
])osition, and in the same place in which they were by nature 
formed, they are down deep in the unknown depths of the earth. 

Many years ago, in 1846, Professor Dale Owen, an eminent 
geologist, was sent by the United States government to make 
a geological survey of the Red River country. On that expe- 
dition he explored the Otter Tail River, and was persistent 
in his cft'orts to ascertain if there was any rock "in place" in 
the country, but found no indication of anything but loose boul- 
ders for a long time, although there were some fine blocks of 
white magnesian limestone found along the river in what is 
now the town of Maine in Otter Tail County, and a few other 
localities. 

Finally, to his great delight, he found what he pronounced 
a ledge of stratified limestone in a state of nature, of consider- 
able extent, projecting from a high bank of the river. The lo- 
cation of this cjuarry was fairly well described, and in 1872, 
when examining the lands of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany in that vicinity. I made a diligent search of the low bluft's 
bordering on the Otter Tail River, and a few miles from Fergus 
trails I found an immense hole in the river bank made the year 
before and a deserted limekiln close by, but no sign of an\- 
limestone quarry remaining. Professor Owen's rock "in place" 
happened to be an immense block of limestone that had been 
dumped by some iceberg or glacier and which happened to have 
been left right side up with care ; but the settlers had dug it 
out completely and burned it into lime, leaving nothing but a 
hole in the ground. With its disappearance went the last prob- 
ability of any "rocks in place" in the Red River country in 
Alinnesota, including Becker County. 

The surface formation of the county was deposited here 
during the glacier period, and is what geologists term a drift 
formation, a conglomeration of sand, gravel, some boulders 
and some clay, in the eastern and central portions of the count}', 
and of clay, some boulders, and a very small amount of sand 
and gravel in the western part. While these granite bowlders 
are quite generally distributed throughout the county, there are 
but few localities where they are very plentiful. They are much 
sought after for foundations for buildings, and are already be- 
coming scarce in the vicinitv of the villages of Lake Park. Au- 



20 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

dubon, Detroit and Frazee. The only localities in the county 
where they have a surplus to si)are are in the eastern part of 
Erie, the south part of Shell Lake, southwest Carsonville and 
a few in Toad Lake, Wolf Lake and Runeberg Townships. 

It is highly improbable that any stone quarries or any mines 
of any description will ever be found in the county, excepting 
perhaps iron ore. Natural gas may exist and possibly petro- 
leum, although we are too far away from any coal fields to ren- 
der it probable. I have never taken any stock in any of the 
alleged discoveries of coal like that near Barnesville or in any 
other part of northwestern Minnesota. There are undoubtedly 
blocks or boulders of coal under the ground at intervals through- 
out this drift formation, at no very great depth, that were brought 
in by glaciers or icebergs from far distant regions, for I have 
seen them dug out in North Dakota, and there might be a little 
pocket of gold-bearing gravel or c[uartz brought along in the 
same way ; but they will amount to nothing, except to raise 
a few false hopes and end in disappointment, like the Barnes- 
ville coal mines, or the gold mines on the Sheyenne River in 
North Dakota a few years ago. 

There are indications of iron ore around some of the tam- 
arack swamps and springs in the eastern and central parts of 
the county, and there are light deposits of bog iron ore in many 
places which have been precipitated from the water, which in 
many places is strongly impregnated with iron. 

What there may be a hundred fathoms or more below the 
surface we cannot tell ; there may possibly be millions of wealth 
down there, but it will not be for this generation to possess 
and probably not for any other, for there is no probability of 
its existence. 

But the geological formation of Becker County has given 
to her people what is of more value to them than stone quarry 
or mine ; it has given them a surface soil of surpassing rich- 
ness, and especially in some of the western townships it has 
given them a soil that for fertility and durability has no su- 
perior on the face of the globe. 

Dec. 24. 1904. 



A PioNKiiR History of Becker County. 21 



Chapter IV. 

LAKES AND RIVERS. 

I did not intend to say much about the surface features of 
the county, as with the exception of the forests, they will re- 
main much as they are now for years to come, but there is one 
feature of the topography of our county of so peculiar and in- 
teresting" a character that I cannot well pass it by, and that is 
the lakes and rivers within our borders. 

Becker County occupies a peculiar position in the physical 
geography of our country, located as it is on the watershed 
of North America. We are living at the fountain-head. Our 
county is at the beginning and the parting of two mighty rivers. 
Around us rise the fountains from which the great Mississippi 
begins its course to the Gulf of Mexico, and from which the 
Red River of the North pursues its winding way to the Arctic 
Sea. A peculiarity of these rivers is, that they both start on 
their long journey to the sea in a direction exactly opposite to 
their general course and final destination. 

Where on the face of the earth was there a more beautiful 
river than the Otter Tail, in the town of Erie, before the pines 
and the firs were cut away from along its banks? Many of its 
features of beauty still remain. 

The south end of the Itasca State Park extends into Becker 
County, occupying all of sections one, two, three and four of 
Savannah Township. Hon. J. V. Brower, under whose direc- 
tion this park was created, pronounced Lake Hernando De Soto 
"the greater ultimate reservoir bowl at the source of the Mis- 
sissippi River." This lake lies in section three of Savannah 
Township, and the "Hautuers," or dividing ridge between its 
waters and those of the Red River extends to the line be- 
tween sections three and ten, a full mile within the limits of 
Becker County. This dividing ridge is semicircular in outline 
and forms a rim around the head of the lake about two hun- 
dred feet higher than the lake itself. 

Lake Itasca has an elevation of 1457 feet above sea level: 
Lake Hernando De Soto an elevation of 1558 feet while the 
"Hautuers," or dividing ridge is 1750 feet above, and is the 
highest point of land in this part of the state. 



2.2 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Tliere is no perpetual stream of water flowing from Lake 
Hernando De Soto towards Lake Itasca, but in wet seasons, 
when there is a surplus of water, there is a considerable tfowage 
from the first named lake into the streams that drain into Lake 
Itasca, where they mingle with and become a part of the waters 
of the ^lississippi River. 

I will quote the following from Neil's History of Minnesota : 

Like the Garden of Eden this part of the country is encircled by 
lakes and rivers. There, is "water, water, everywhere." The surface 
of the country is dotted with lakes, and in some regions it is impossible 
to travel two miles without meeting a beautiful expanse of water. Many 
of these are linked together by small and clear rivulets, while others are 
isolated. Their configuration is varied and picturesque; some are large, 
with precipitous shores, and contain wooded islands, others are approached 
by gentle grassy slopes. Owens in his geological report says: "Their 
beds are generally pebbly, or covered with small bowlders, which peep 
out along the shore and frequently show a rocky line around the entire 
Circumference. But few of them have mud bottoms. The water is generally 
sweet and clear, and is as cool and refreshing during the heat of summer 
as the water of springs or wells. Nearly all the lakes abound with various 
species of fish, of a quality and flavor greatly superior to those of the 
waters of the Middle and Southern States." 

E. D. Neil. 

There are two hundred and ninety-six meandered lakes in 
Becker County, containing all the way from forty to several 
thousand acres each. A lake to be meandered 1)v the govern- 
ment surveyors must contain not less than forty acres. In addi- 
tion to these lakes there arc more than a thousand ponds, con- 
taining from five to forty acres each, scattered over the count}-. 

Cormorant Lake was originally much the largest lake in 
Becker County, but about twenty-five years ago it was cut in 
twain by the lowering of its waters. The eastern division, how- 
ever, still holds its place at the head of the list for size of all 
the lakes in the county. This lake originally contained 7011.38 
acres exclusive of meandered islands of which there are eight, 
with an aggregate area of 326.35 acres, of which six are in the 
eastern division with 209.07 acres, and two in the western di- 
vision with 117.28 acres. The eastern division contains 4728.66 
acres exclusive of meandered islands and the western division 
22'^2.'/2 acres. I have been recently informed, however, that 
the water in this lake has been rising until it now covers the 
old channel between the two sections of the lake, and there is 



A PioNEKR History of Be;cker County. 23 

a probability that in a few more years it will resume its former 
level. 

Section 13 of Cormorant Township is the onl}- solid govern- 
ment section in Becker County that lies entirely within the 
limits of any of its lakes. 

The second lake in the order of size is Height of Land Lake, 
with an area of 3921.33 acres. Shell Lake is third with 3219.40 
acres, and Detroit Lake is fourth with 3117.97 acres. Floyd Lake 
in Detroit Township contains 1225 acres, and Oak Lake in the 
same township (the name by which this whole country was 
known in 1870 and 1871) contains 78.67 acres. 



Chapter V. 



THE WILD TREES AND PLANTS OF BECKER COUNTY. 

I do not claim to be a scientific botanist, as I never studied 
the subject at school a day in my life, but when a boy I picked 
up a botany that an older sister had borrowed and in a short 
time acquired a sufficient knowledge of the science to analyze 
plants correctly, and at the end of the first flowering season 
had studied out a majority of the native plants in the neighbor- 
hood. I soon acquired a fondness for the study that amounted 
almost to a passion, and for many years devoted much of my 
leisure time to the study and analysis of plants. Next to my 
work as a surveyor, the practical application of botany in the 
analysis of plants has been the delight of my life ; and even 
now when too old to run lines over the prairies and through 
the forests and swamps, I still delight in exploring new botani- 
cal fields in other states, and hunting out new species of the 
vegetable kingdom. I am aware that but few people in this 
world take any interest in this science, and many of them are 
extremely puzzled at the enthusiasm of the zealous botanist 
when his interest is awakened at beholding for the first time 
some plant or flower of a new and rare species, and are in- 
clined to make light of his passion for collecting what they 
consider mere worthless weeds, and are apt to look upon him 
not only as whimsical and cranky but his sanity is frequently 
called in question. 

I will now give a brief outline of the general plan of classi- 



24 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

fying- and distinguishing- plants in as simple language as pos- 
sible, laying- aside as far as practicable all scientific terms. 

The whole vegetable kingdom is divided first into two grand 
series, the flowering and the flowerless plants. The flowerless 
series is a small one, and we will here leave it with the remark 
that it is made up chiefly of the ferns, the mosses and the lichens. 

A\'hile they have no flowers they bear seeds in abundance 
which are borne on the backs of the fronds or leaves. The 
flowering" series is in its turn divided into two classes, the 
Exogeiis and the Eiidogcns. In the class of Exogciis, the 
growth of the plant or tree is always on the outside and is ac- 
complished by a succession of rings or circles, one of which, as in 
the case of trees is added to the circumference each year. The 
seeds are always divided into two lobes, which are lifted from 
the ground as the seed sprouts upward and forms the first 
pair of leaves as in the case of the bean and pea. The parts of 
the flowers are always in fours or fives or some multiple of 
these numbers. All plants of this class have bark and pith. 
In the class of Endogciis the growth of the plant is in the 
interioir and the increase in size is by expansion outward from 
the center, and the seeds have but one lobe which remains in the 
ground when the seeds sprout upwards. This class of plants has 
neither bark nor pith. To this class belong the wdieat, the corn, 
the grasses and the palms. The wood of the palm tree has no 
circular rings or grains or pith or bark. The parts of the flowers 
in this class are always in threes or sixes, the leaves are always 
parallel-veined like those on a cornstalk, while those of the 
E.vogciis are net-veined like those of the maple. As this last 
class (Eiidogcjis) is much smaller, I will now leave it behind. 

The class of Exogcns is divided into two sub-classes, one of 
which includes only the coniferous trees, such as the pine and the 
spruce, so I will leave it and take up the other sub-class which 
is called the Aiigiospcniiac. 'JMiis sub-class is divided into three 
divisions, the polypetalous, the monopetalous, and the apetalous. 
The petals, as most people know, are the flower leaves or 
the leaves of the flowers themselves. In the first division the 
corolla is made up of separate petals like the rose. In the second 
division the petals are all more or less united into one piece, 
forming a somewhat cup or bell-shaped flower, like the morning- 
glory. In the third division the flower has no petals or corolla, 
although the other parts of the flower are perfect. A\'e will 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 25 

now turn to the monopetalous division. This is divided into 
four subdivisions founded upon the different positions of the 
stamens in the flower. The stamens are the male organs of 
the plant, the two sexes being as actual and positive and as 
important in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom. In the 
first subdivision the stamens are more numerous than the lobes 
of the corolla. In the second they are of the same number 
as the lobes of the corolla and opposite to them. In the third 
division the stamens are of the same number as the lobes of 
the corolla and alternate with them. In the fourth subdivision 
the stamens are fewer than the lobes of the corolla. These sub- 
divisons are again divided into natural orders of which there 
are about one hundred and forty in the northern states. These 
orders are based on some peculiarity of the plant, such as the 
leaves growing opposite to each other, or alternate on the stem. 
The natural orders in their turn are divided into genera, and 
the genera into species. Genera is the plural of genus. All 
the oaks in the country form one genus, while the white oak 
and the bur oak, for instance, are each separate species of the 
genus oak. 

All the standard text-books of botany contain not only de- 
scriptions of all known plants in their territory, but are also fur- 
nished with analytical tables which trace each and every plant 
down through the different series, classes, sub-classes, divisions. 
subdivisions, natural orders, genera and species. Having acquired 
a general knowledge of the principles of botany and the mean- 
ing of the peculiar terms employed in the science, the student 
proceeds to study or analyze plants with a view to determine 
their names and the places they occupy in the system. In 
order to analyze a plant it should be taken when in full leaf 
and in full bloom, and it is sometimes essential that some of 
the fruit or seeds should be present, although it is generally 
difficult to find all these conditions present at once. In the 
case of some flowers, when the parts are of fair size and fully 
developed, it is quite a simple process, but when the parts of 
the flower are small and indistinct, and when some of the parts 
such as the seeds are not matured until after some of the other 
parts have perished, it is quite a difficult problem. A magni- 
fying glass is indispensable in some cases. 

Suppose we have in our hand a flowering branch of some 
shrub or tree. Turning to the analysis, we compare it first with 



26 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 

the series of flowering' plants with which we find it to agree 
as having" flowers. Then cntting" the branch across, we see if it 
is made up of wood, pith and bark ; if the leaves are net-veined, 
and if the flowers are in fours or fives. Showing these pecu- 
liarities it doubtless belongs to the class of E.vogciis. Then if the 
seeds are contained in an ovary, it comes under the sub-class 
of angiospermous plants, instead of the coniferous. A\'e next 
find that it has a corolla as well as a calyx, and that the petals 
of the corolla are seperate and distinct, so that it belongs to 
the polypetalous division. Our attention is next directed to 
the insertion of the stamens, whether they are growing on the 
corolla, or on the calyx, or on the receptacle. In this case they 
are growing on the receptacle. Then if the stamens are more 
numerous than the petals, which we find to be so, this places 
our plant in the hypogynous subdivision. That we find the 
leaves to be opposite instea;d of alternate, and the seeds are 
solitary instead of being more than one. This brings it down 
to the natural order, Tiliacca wdiich is found on page loi in 
the body of the flora in Gray's Botany. 

We then compare our plant with the character of the order 
and find they agree. A\'e now proceed to find the name of the 
genus, which is readily done, as there is only one in this order, 
and we find it to agree with every particular. It belongs to the 
genus Tilia. 'J'here are three species of 'Tilia, one of these is a 
large tree and the other two are small ones. This branch came 
froiu a large tree, so it is the Tilia Americana, or the basswood. 

I have a list of 8oi different species of wild trees and plants 
which I have analyzed in the United States, of which number 
I have found in Minnesota 460, North Dakota 13, Iowa 41, Missouri 
12, Arkansas 36, Texas 25, Louisiana 7, Florida 8, South Carolina 
9, North Carolina 19, Tennessee 6, Ohio 41, Pennsylvania 7, New 
York 82, West Virginia 26, Delaware 9, a grand total of 801. 

Following is a list of the 460 wild plants and trees I have 
found growing in Becker County. I have analyzed all these 
myself, and know the list is correct as far as it goes. Of course 
there are a few species that I have never found, especially among 
the grasses and sedges, but the list will be found to include 
nearly all the native plants and trees growing wild in the county. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 27 



Native Wild Plants. 

The following- is a list of the native plants, trees and larger 
shrubs I have found growing- in the county : 

Botanical Names. Common Names. 

Clematis Virginiana Virgin's Bower. 

Anemone patens Pasque Flower. 

Anemone cylindrica Long-fruited Anemone. 

(The earliest flowers of spring.) 

Anemone Pennsylvanica Anemone. 

Anemone nemorosa Windflower. 

Hepatica triloba Liverwort, Liverleaf. 

Thalictrum dioicum Early Rue. 

Thalictrum purpurascens Purple Rue. 

Ranunculus multifidus Yellow Crowfoot. 

Ranunculus flammula Smaller Spearwort. 

Ranunculus rhomboidous Crowfoot. 

Ranunculus sceleratus Cursed Crowfoot. 

Ranunculus abortivus Small-flowered Crowfoot. 

Ranunculus septentrionalis 

Ranunculus Pennsylvanicus Bristly Crowfoot. 

Ranunculus acris Buttercups, Yellow Daisy. 

Caltha Pulastris Cowslip, Marsh Marigold. 

Coptis trifolia Goldthread. 

Aquilegia Canadensis Wild Columbine. 

Delphinium azureum Larkspur. 

Actaea spicata Red Baneberry. 

Actatea alba White Baneberry. 

Menispermum Canadense Moonseed. 

Caulophyllum thalictroides Blue Cohosh. 

Nymphaca odorata White Pond Lily. 

Nuphar advena Yellow Pond Lily. 

Sarracenia purpurea Pitcher Plant, Sidesaddle Flower. 

Sanguinaria Canadensis Bloodroot. 

Papaver somniferum Wild Poppy. 

Adiumia cullaria Dutchman's Breeches. 

Corydalis aurea Golden Corydalis. 

Arabis hirsuta Sicklepod. 

Arabis perfoliata Tower Mustard. 

Arabis confinis 

Lesquerella Ludoviciana 

Camelina sativa False Flax. 

Nasturtium armpracia Horseradish. 

Erysimum chirantroidcs . . Wormseed Mustard. 

Sisymbrium canescenes Tansy Mustard. 

Sisymbrium sophia Hedge ^Mustard. 



28 A Pione;i<;r History of Becker County. 

Sisymbrium thaliana ^Mouse-ear Cress. 

Brassica alba White Mustard. 

Brassica nigra Black or Common Mustard. 

Brassica compestris White Rutabaga. 

Capsella bursa-pastoris Shepherd's Purse. 

Thlaspi arvense Wing-seeded Mustard. 

Lepidium Virginicum Wild Peppergrass. 

Polanisia graveolens 

Cleome integrifolia 

Reseda luteola Dyer's Weed. 

Viola pedata Bird's-foot Violet. 

Viola palmata Common Blue Violet. 

Viola blanda Sweet White Violet. 

Viola rotundifolia Round-leaved Violet. 

Viola pubescens Downy Yellow Violet. 

Viola hastata Halberd-leaved Violet. 

Viola canina Low Dog Violet. 

Viola tricolor Pansy Heartsease. 

Dianthus barbatus Sweet William. 

Saponaria officinalis Soapwort, Bouncing Bet. 

Silene noctislora Catchfly Cockle. 

Lychinis githago Corncockle. 

Arenaria lateriflora Sandwort. 

Stellaria media Common Chickweed. 

Stellaria longifolia Long-leaved Stitchwort. 

Cerastium arvense Field Chickweed. 

Cerastium vulgatum Larger Chickweed. 

Portulaca oleracea Purslane, Pusley. 

Malva rotundifolia Common Mallow. 

Malva sylvestris High Mallow. 

Malvastrum coccineum False Mallow. 

Linum usitatissimum Common Blue Flax. 

Linum sulcatum Yellow Flax. 

Geranium maculatum Cranesbill. 

Geranium Carolinianum Small Cranesbill. 

Oxalis violacea Rose-flowered Wood Sorrel. 

Oxalis corniculata Yellow Wood Sorrel. 

Impatiens pallida Touch-me-not. 

Ceanothus americanus Redroot Jersey Tea. 

Rhus toxicodendron . Poison Oak, Poison Ivy. 

Polygala paucifolia Fringed Polygala. 

Polygala senega Seneca Snakeroot. 

Baptisia lencantha False Indigo. 

Trifolium pratense Red Clover. 

Trifolium medium Zigzag Clover. 

Trifolium stoloniferum Running Clover. 

Trifolium repens White Clover. 

Trifolium prcumbens Low Hop Clover, Yellow Clover. 

Mellilotus alva Sweet Clover. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 29 

Medicago sativa Luzerne Alfalfa. 

Psoralea escnienta Pomme de Terre, Ground Apple. 

Amorpha canescens Lead-plant. 

Petalostemon violaceus Sweet-scented Prairie Clover. 

Petalostemon candidus White Prairie Clover. 

Astragalus caryocarpus Ground Plum. 

Astragalus Canadensis jMilk Vetch. 

Astagalus Missouriensis Vetch. 

Glycyrrhiza lepidota Wild Liquorice. 

Desmodium acuminatum Tick-trefoil. 

Vicia Americana Climbing Pea-vine. 

Lathyrus ochroleucus Everlasting Pea. 

Lathyrus venosus Wild Pea-vine. 

Lathyrus palustris Creeping Pea-vine. 

Amphicarpaea monoica Hog Pea-nut. 

Rubus oboratus Purple-flowering Raspberry. 

Rubus triflorus Dwarf Swamp Raspberry. 

Rubus strigosus Wild Red Raspberry. 

Rubus occidentalia Black Raspberry. 

Rubus villosus Common High Blackberry. 

Rubus Canadensis Low Blackberry, Dewberry. 

Rubus hispidus Running Swamp Blackberry. 

Geum macrophyllum Yellow Avens. 

Geum rivale Water Avens, Purple Avens. 

Geum triflorum 

Fragaria Virginianna Common Wild Strawberry. 

Fragaris vesca Smaller Wild Strawberry. 

Potentilla Norvegica Cinquefoil. 

Potentiila Pennsylvanica Fivetinger. 

Potentilla palustris Marsh Fivefinger. 

Agrimonia eupatoria Agrimony. 

Rosa engelmania Prairie Wild Rose. 

Rosa Carolina Hedge Wild Rose. 

Tiarella cordifolia Mitrewort. 

Mitela nuda Bishop's Cap. 

Heuchera hispida Alum-root. 

Parnassia palustris Grass of Parnassus. 

Ribes cynosbati Prickly Gooseberry. 

Ribes bracile Smooth Gooseberry. 

Ribes prostratum Skunk Currant. 

Ribes floridum Wild Black Currant. 

Ribes rubrum Wild Red Currant. 

Epilobium angustifolium Rosebay, Firewood. 

Epilobium coloratum Willow Herb. 

Epilobium adenocaulon Marsh Rosebay. 

Oenothera biennis Evening Primrose. 

Genothera albicaulis Prairie Primrose. 

Genotherf. serrulata Shrubby Primrose. 

Circaea litetianna Enchanter's Nightshade. 



30 A PioNEUR History of Becker County. 

Circaea alpina Lesser Enchanter's Nightshade. 

Echinocystis lobata Blooming Bur Cucumber. 

Heraceum lamatum Cow Parsnip. 

Pastinaca sativa Common Parsnip. 

Thaspium aureum Golden Alexanders. 

Thaspium barbinode 

Cryptotaenia Canadensis Honewort. 

Carum carui Caraway. 

Cicuta maculata Poison Hemlock. 

Cicuta bulbifera Cowbane. 

Osmorrhiza brevistylis Sweet Cicely. 

Osmorrhiza longistylis Short-styled Cicely. 

Sanicula Marylandica Sanicle. 

Aralia racemosa Spikenard. 

Aralia nudicaulis . Wild Sarsaparilla. 

Aralia quinquefolia Ginseng. 

Cornus Canadensis Dwarf Dogwood. 

Linnaea borealis Twinflower. 

Symphoricarpos occidentalis . .. .Wolfberry or Snowberry. 

Lonicera ciliata Fly Honeysuckle. 

Lonicera caerulea Swamp Honeysuckle. 

Lonicera hirsuta Hairy Honeysuckle. 

Lonicera sullivantii Common Twining Honeysuckle, 

Houstonia purpurea Innocence. 

Galium Boreale Northern Bedstraw, Cleavers. 

Galium trifidum Small Bedstraw, Cleavers. 

Galium asprellum Rough Bedstraw, Cleavers. 

Galium triflorium Sweet-scented Bedstraw, Cleavers. 

Veronia noveboracensis Ironweed. 

Eupatorium purpureum Trumpetweed, Joepye. 

Eupatorium sessilifolium Upland Boneset. 

Eupatorium perfoliatum Boneset, Thoroughwort. 

Liatris squarrossa Blazing Star. 

Grindelia squarrossa 

Solidago latifolia Goldenrod. 

Solidago rugosa Goldenrod. 

Solidago Missouriensis Goldenrod. 

Solidago serotina Goldenrod. 

Solidago Canadensis The National Flower. 

Solidago rigida Rough Goldenrod. 

Solidago lanceolata Narrow-leaved Goldenrod. 

Aster macrophyllus Broad-leaved Aster. 

Aster oblongifolius Long-leaved Aster. 

Aster sericeus Wild Aster. 

Aster multiflarus Many-leaved Aster. 

Aster puniceus Aster. 

Erigeron Canadensis Horseweed. 

Erigeron strigosus Daisy Fleabane. 

Erigeron bellidifolius Robin's Plantain. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 31 

Erigeron Philadelphicus Common Fleabane. 

Antennaria plantaginifolia Cudweed, Everlasting. 

Ambrosia trifida Great Ragweed. 

Ambrosia artemisiaefolia Ragweed, Hogweed. 

Iva xanthiifolia 

Xanthium Canadense Cocklebur. 

Heliopsis scabra Oxeye. 

Echinacea angustifolia Purple Coneflower. 

Rudbeckia laciniata Coneflower. 

Rudbeckia hirta Yellow Coneflower. 

Helianthus annuus Common Sunflower. 

Helianthus rigidus Rough Sunflower. 

Helianthus Maximiliani Wild Sunflower. 

Helianthus tuberosus Wild Artichoke. 

Bidens frondosa Spanish Needles, Sticktight. 

Bidens thrysanthemoides Water bur-marigold. 

Helenium autumnale Sneezewort. 

Anthemis cotula Mayweed, Dog-fennel. 

Anthemis nobilis Chamomile. 

Achillea millefolium Yarrow. 

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. . White Daisy. 

Tanacetum vulgare Tansy. 

Artemisia caudata Sage-brush. 

Artemisia abrotinum Southernwood. 

Artemisia Ludoviciana Western Mugwort. 

Artemisia absinthium Wormwood. 

Petasites palmata Sweet Colt'sfoot. 

Petasites sagittata . .A.rrow-leaved Colt'sfoot. 

Senecio aureus Golden Rugwort. 

Senecio integerrinus Ragwort. 

Arctium lappa Burdock. 

Cnicus lanceolatus Common Thistle, Bull Tliistle. 

Cnicus undulatus Wavy Leaved Thistle. 

Cnicus altissimus Large Flowered Thistle. 

Cnicus muticus Swamp Thistle. 

Cnicus arvensis Canada Thistle. 

Hieracium Canadense Hawkwood. 

Prenanthes alba Rattlesnake-root. 

Troximon cuspidatum Mock Dandelion. 

Taraxacum officinale Common Dandelion. 

Lactuca pulchella Wild Lettuce. 

Sonchus arvensis Sow-thistle. 

Lobelia syphilitica CardinaLflower, Great Lobelia. 

Epigea repens Trailing Arbutus. 

Lobelia spicata Lobelia. 

Campanula rapunculoides Bellflower. 

Campanula rotundifolia Harebell. 

Campanula aparinoides Marsh Bellflower. 

Vaccinium Pennsylvanicuni Common Blueberry. 



32 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Vaccinium corymbosum Huckleberry. 

Vaccinium macrocarpon Common Cranberry. 

Chiogenncs serpyllifolia Creeping or Swamp Wintergreen. 

Arctostaphylos uvaursi Bearberry, Uva, Ursa. 

Gaulthera procumbens Wintergreen. 

Ledum latifoilum Labrador Tea. 

Chimaphila umbellata Prince's Pine, Pipsissewa. 

Pyrola secunda Shin Leaf. 

Pyrola rotundifolia Pear-leaved Wintergreen. 

Trientalis Americana Chickweed Wintergreen. 

Steironema cilapum Loosestrife. 

Lysimachia thyrsiflora Tufted Loosestrife. 

Apocynum androsaemifolium ...Dogbane. 

Apocynum cannabinum Indian Hemp. 

Asclepias incarnata Purple Silkweed. 

Asclepias cornuti Common Silkweed. 

Asclepias ovalifolia Milkweed, Silkweed. 

Gentiana crinita Fringed Gentian. 

Gentiana Andrewsii Closed Gentian. 

Frasera deflexa Spurred Gentian. 

Menyanthes Virginica Buckbean. 

Phlox pilsoa Phlox. 

Hydrophyllum Virginicum Kidneywort, Cow Cabbage. 

Ellisia nyctelea 

Echinospermum Virginicum .... Beggar's Lice. 

Echinospermum redowskii Sticktight. 

Mertensia paniculata Lungwort. 

Lithospermum canescens Yellow Puccoon. 

Onosmodium Caroliniana Gromwell. 

Ipomoea purpurea Wild Morning Glory. 

Convolvulus Hedge-bindweed. 

Solanum nigrum Black Nightshade. 

Physalis grandifiora Ground Cherry. 

Physalis Virginiana Husk Tomato. 

Verbascum thapsus Mullein. 

Scrophularia nodosa Figwort. 

Pentstemon gracilis Beardtongue. 

Pentstemon grandiflorus 

Mimulus ringens Monkey Flower. 

Veronica leptendra Culver's Physic, Blackroot. 

Veronica peregrina Speedwell. 

Gerardia purpurea Purple Gerardia. 

Castilleia coccinea Scarlet Painted-cup. 

Pedicularis Canadensis Lousewort. 

Pedicularis lanceolata Lousewort. 

Utricularia vulgaris Floating Bladderwort. 

Martynia proposcidea Unicorn Plant. 

Verbena urticaefolia White Vervain. 

Verbena hastata Blue Vervain. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 33 

Verbena spricta Hoary Vervain. 

Mentha Canadensis Wild Peppermint. 

Lycopus Virginicus Water Hoarhoimd. 

Monarda fistttlosa Wild Bergamot. 

Lophanthus anisatus Wild Anise. 

Nepeta cataria Catnip. 

Nepeta glechoma Ground Ivy. Gill-over-the-Ground. 

Bracocephalum parviflorum . . . . Dragon's-head. 

Scutellaria galericulata Skullcap. 

Leonurus Cardiaca ^Motherwort. 

Galeopsis tetrahit Hemp Nettle. 

Stachys hyssopifolia Hedge Nettle. 

Plantago major Common Plantain. 

Plantago lanceolata English Plantain. 

Oxybaphus myctagineus Wild Four-o'clock. 

Amarantus blitoides Tumbleweed. 

Salsola tragus Russian Thistle. 

Chenopodrum album Pigweed. Lamb's Quarter. 

Chenopodrum murale Redroot. 

Chenopodrum hybridum Maple-leaved Goosefoot. 

Chenopodrum capitatum Strawberry Elite. 

Rumex altissimus Pale Dock. 

Rumex verticillatus Water Dock. 

Rumex crispus Yellow Dock. 

Rumex Britannica Great Water Dock. 

Rumex acetosella Field Sorrel. 

Polygunum aviculare Knotweed. 

Polygonum erectuni 

Polygonum muhlenbergii 

Polygonum hartwrightii 

Polygonum persicaria Lady's-thumb. 

Polygonum hyrdopiperoides . . . .Water-pepper. 

Polygonum hydroppier Smartwced. 

Polygonum sagittatum Arrow Leaved Tear-thumb. 

Polygonum convolvulus Black Bindweed. 

Polygonum scandens Wild Buckwheat. 

Polygonum esculentum Buckwheat. 

Asanim Canadense Wild Ginger, Colt'sfoot. 

Commandra umbellata Toad-flax. 

Euphorbia serpyllifolia Spurge. 

Cannabis sativa Common Hemp. 

Humulus lupulus Common Hop. 

Urtica gracilis Wood Nettle. 

Urtica dioica Stinging Nettle. 

Pilea pumila Richweed. 

Hexalectris aphyllus 

Cypripedium pubescens Yellow Lady's-slipper. 

Cypridedium spectabile Rose-flowered Moccasin Flower. 

Cypripedium arietinum The Flower of the State of Minnesota. 



34 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Iris versicolor Fleur-de-lis. 

Sisyrinchium angustifolium Blue-eyed Grass. 

Hypoxis erecta Star Grass. 

Similax herbacea Carrion-flower. 

Allium tricoccum Wild Leak. 

Allium cernuum Wild Onion. 

Allium reticulatua Short Wild Onion. 

Polygonatum biflorum Dwarf Solomon's-seal. 

Polygonatum giganteum Great Solomon's-seal. 

Asparagus officinalis Asparagus. 

Smilacina racemosa False Spikenard. 

Smilacina stellata 

Smilacina trifolia 

Maianthemum Canadense 

Clintonia borealis 

Uvularia perfoliata Bellwort. 

Uvularia grandiflora 

Lilium Philadelphicum Wild Yellow Lily. 

Trillium erectum Bath Flower, Wakcrobin. 

Trillium grandiflorum 

Trillium cernuum 

Zygadenus elegans Prairie Lily. 

Tradescantia Virginica Spiderwort. 

Luzula vernalis 

Typha latifolia Cattail. 

Arum trillium Indian Turnip, Jack-in-the-Pulpit. 

Colla Palustris Water Arum. 

Acorus calamus Sweet-flag, Calamus. 

Alisma plantago Water Plantain. 

Sagittaria variabilis Arrowhead. 

Scirpus lacustris Great Bulrush. 

Scirpus torreyi Smaller Bulrush. 

Eriophorum polystachyon Cotton Grass. 

Eriophorum lineatum Wire Grass. 

Carex varia Sedge. 

Carex pedunculata Low Sedge. 

Panicum crusgalli Barnyard Grass. 

Aira fleuuosa "... Hair Grass. 

Setaria glauca Pigeon Grass or Foxtail. 

Zizania equatica Wild Rice, Water Oats. 

Stipa spartea Porcupine Grass. 

Oryzopsis asperifolia Buck Grass, Evergreen Grass. 

Phleum pratense Timothy or Herd's Grass. 

Phragmites communis Wild Reed. 

Poa serotina Wild Redtop. 

Poa pratensis Blue Grass. 

Buchloe dactyloides Buffalo Grass. 

Triodia cuprea Common Redtop. 

Equisetum hyemale Scouring Rush. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 35 

Adiantum pedatum Maidenhair Fern. 

Pteris aquilina Common Brake. 

Lycopodium clavatum Common Club Moss. 

Lycopodium complanatum Ground Pine, Wolf's-foot. 

The following is a list of the native trees and larger shrubs I have found 
growing in the county. 

Tillia Americana Baswood, Lin, Linden. 

Xanthoxylum Americanum Prickly Ash. 

Ilex verticillata Black Alder, Winterberry. 

Celastrus scandens Bittersweet. 

Rhamnus alnisolia Dwarf Buckthorn. 

Vitis labrusca Northern Fox Grape. 

Ampelopsis quinquefolia Woodbine, Virginia Creeper. 

Acer spicatum Mountain Maple. 

Acer saccharineum Sugar Maple, Rock Maple. 

Acer rubrum Soft Maple, Red Maple. 

Negundo aceroides Box Elder, Ash-leaved iNIapIe. 

Rhus glabra Sumach. 

Amorpha fruticosa Large False Indigo. 

Prunus Americana Wild Red or Yellow Plum. 

Prunus pumila Dwarf Cherry, Sand-cherry. 

Prunus Virginiana Choke-cherry. 

Prunus serotina Wild Black Cherry. 

Prunus Pennsylvanica Wild Red Cherry. 

Spiraea salicifolia Queen-of-the-meadows. 

Pyrus Americana Mountain Ash. 

Crataegus Crusgalli Cockspur Thorn. 

Amelanchier alnifolia Service-berry, June-berry, Shad-berry. 

Cornus stolomnifera Red Osier, Dogwood, Kinnikinnik. 

Cornus Circinata Round-leaved Dogwood. 

Cornus paniculata A small species of Dogwood. 

Cornus alternifolia Green Osier Dogwood. 

Sambucus racemossa Red-berried Elder. 

Viburnum opulus High Bush Cranberry. 

Viburnum pubescens Bitter Haw. 

Viburnum lentago Sweet Black Haw. 

Fraxinus Americana White Ash. 

Fraxinus viridis Red Ash. 

Fraxinus sambucifolia Black Ash. 

Dirca paulustris Moosewood, Leatherwood. 

Elaeagnus irgentea Silverberry. 

Ulmus fulva Slippery Elm or Red Elm. 

Ulmus Americana White Elm, Water Elm. 

Ulmus racemossa Rock Elm, Cork Elm. 

Celtis ocidentalis Hackberry, Sugarberry. 

Juglans cinerea Butternut, White Walnut. 

Juglans nigra Black Walnut. 



36 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Betula lenta Yellow Birch. Sweet Birch. 

Betula papyrifera White Birch, Canoe Birch. 

Betula pumila Low Birch, Swamp Birch. 

Alnus incana Tag .\lder. Common Alder. 

Corylus Americana Beaked Hazelnut. 

Corylus rostrata Beaked Hazelnut, Filbert. 

Ostyra Virginica Iron Wood, Hornbean. 

Carpinus Caroliniana Blue Beech, Water Beech. 

Quercus alba White Oak. 

Quercus macrocorpa Bur-oak, Sweet Oak. 

Quercus rubra Red Oak, Scarlet Oak. 

Salix alba White Willow. 

Salix Babylonica Wheeping Willow. 

Salix discolor Shining Willow. 

Sali.x tristis Dwarf Grey Willow, Prairie Willow. 

Salix sericea Silky Willow. 

Salix petiolaris 

Salix Candida Hoary Willow, Gray Willow. 

Populus alba White Poplar, a cultivated species. 

Populus tremuloides .^spen, Quacking-asp, The Common 

Poplar. 

Populus grandidenta Large-leaved .Aspen, Black Poplar. 

Populus balsamifera Balm of Gilead. 

Populus monilifera Cottonwood. 

Populus Lombardy Poplar. 

Pinus strobus White Pine. 

Pinus banksianna Jack Pine, Black Pine. 

Pinus resinosa Norway Pine, Red Pine. 

Picea nigra Black Spruce. 

Abies balsamea Fir Balsam. 

Larix Americana Tamarac, Larch, Hackmatack. 

Juniperus Communis Common Juniper, Dwarf Cedar. 

Taxus Canadensis .\merican Yew. Ground Hemlock. 

There are a good many more species of wild plants in Becker 
County now, than when it was first settled. At that time the 
most troublesome plant in the coimtry was thought to be the 
wild morning'-glory. A good many new species have followed 
in the wake of civilization that were not here before, and many 
of them are verv troublesome. Among the species that have 
been introduced that are somewhat troublesome in their nature 
are the mullein, the dandelion, the plantain, the pm-slane. the 
ragweed, and the yellow daisy. Among those that are consid- 
ered a positive nuisance are the burdock, the cocklebur, the 
sweet clover, the white daisy, the wild mustard, the bull thistle, 
the Russian thistle, and last but not least, the Canada thistle. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 37 

These plants have all evidently come in to stay, especiall}- the 
Canada thistle. 

The bull thistle has gained a strong foothold in many places, 
especially in sections eighteen and nineteen in Grand Park town- 
ship, where it has spread rapidly along the roadside and through 
the timber for a distance of two miles or more in the last ten 
years. It is a biennial plant, always dying the second year, and 
consequently can be easily destroyed by mowing before the 
plant goes to seed. 

The Russian thistle has made its appearance along the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad track in the last six or seven years, in small 
quantities. It is an annual plant, always dying the first year 
and consequently ought to be easily destroyed. It does not 
thrive well in our moist climate, and the surface of Becker 
County is not adapted to its rough and tumble habits. So it 
should not cause any serious apprehensions. 

The wild mustard so far has made the most trouble of any 
pestiferous plant in the county, but the farmers appear to have a 
way of keeping it under control. 

The sweet clover is a harmless, inoffensive looking plant, 
but it has taken possesion of a good part of Ohio, where it 
appears to be master of the situation. 

There is a dense patch of it in Otter Tail County, along the 
road about half way between Pelican Rapids and Frazee. It 
is slowlv creeping towards Becker County, at the rate of about 
forty rods a year. 

The white daisy is a troublesome weed in some of the older 
states, but in Becker County it has only appeared in flower 
gardens and dooryards. It is a dangerous pet, and is liable to 
make trouble in the future. 

Xearly all of the above weeds can be kept under control, 
but there is a vicious plant thriving in our midst that is more 
to be dreaded than all the mustard, sweet clover, bull thistle, 
Russian thistle, and the seven years' plague of grasshoppers 
combined, and that is the Canada thistle. It is like the song 
of the everflowing brook "Men may come and men may go, But 
I go on forever." 

Some of the other pests of the field and highway may come 
and some may go, but the Canada thistle has come to stay for- 
ever. Silently and slowly, but surely, little by little, year after 



38 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

year, it is spreading over the country. It is a perenial plant, 
its roots living from year to year, and they are never known to 
die. I have known a strawstack to be built over a patch of Canada 
thistles and burned three years afterwards and the year after the 
fine thev were up and blooming as vigorous and thrifty as ever. 
Sixteen years ago, I discovered a patch of these thistles in a barn- 
yard near the old Oak Lake cut about a rod square, and I do not 
think there were any more of them in the county at that time. 
I sent word to the authorities of Audubon township, warning them 
of the dangerous character of the plant. They were mowed down 
some time that summer, after they had matured, and that was all 
I ever heard of being done to them. They are now growing all 
around in that vicinity. There is a big patch of them in the village 
of Detroit, a few in the Red Eye country and lots of them on the 
White Earth Reservation. They are also fast taking possession of 
both Brainerd and Duluth and the north shore of Lake Superior, 
along the Canadian Pacific Railroad. There are three species 
of native thistle in the county, all of which are quite harmless. 
Of the plants threatened with annihilation, I will mention 
only the ginseng. Thirty years ago, I found it in considerable 
quantities at the west end of Floyd Lake, and have seen it grow- 
ing near the narrows of Big Cormorant Lake, and in Lake View ; 
but when the dried roots become worth nearly their weight in gold, 
it became a shining mark for the Chippewa squaws and the un- 
erring aim of their little steel hoes has nearly accomplished its 
destruction. 

Another plant of great importance in the financial afi:"airs of 
the Chippewas, is the Seneca snakeroot, tons and tons of which 
have been dug throughout the brush prairie regions of the coun- 
ty. It is a hardy perennial plant, and appears to be holding" 
its own against this persistent Indian warfare with wonderful 
success. This plant was abundant on the prairies of Atlanta be- 
fore they were ploughed up. Late in the fall or early in the 
spring after the prairies had been burned, they were dotted with 
these plants, the evergreen nature of their radical leaves render- 
ing them nearly fire proof, and quite conspicuous after the fire 
had blackened the ground. 

There are other species of medicinal plants in the county 
that are used quite extensively. The Leptendra or the blackroot 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 39 

and the Ura iirsa or the bearberry, and the kidneywort, all of 
which grow in considerable quantities and which ought to find 
a ready sale at good prices. Here is an opening for the squaws 
after the snakeroot has dissappeared. 

Of deadly poisons the Ciciita maculata or poison hemlock 
stands at the head of the list. It grows extensively in wet 
places all over the county, and looks like a big caraway plant. 
The roots resemble wild artichokes, only they are a little longer 
drawn out. It was eating this root that killed Miles Hannah 
in the spring of 1873 on the Clearwater drive, and it also fatally 
poisoned a man in the employ of J. W. Dunn near Detroit, eight 
years ago. 

The Cicuta hulhifera is also a deadly poison. It resembles 
the maculata, but is not so plentiful. 

Any and all plants belonging to the natural order UmbiilUfcra, 
to which the above belong, growing in wet or moist places, are 
liable to be poisonous, while plants belonging to the same family 
growing on high, dry ground like the parsnip, the carrot, the 
caraway, the sweet cicely, the fennel, the dill and the anise, are 
harmless. 

The Rhus toxicodendron, or poison oak, poisons many people 
externally, and is said to be a rank poison when taken internally. 
It grows all over the timbered portions of Becker County in great 
abundance. It grows to be about a foot high, and is readily known 
by its leaves always growing in threes. There are some suspicious 
plants belonging to the natural order of Ranunculus, such as the 
crowfoot, the columbine, the larkspar and the red and wdiite bane- 
berry. 

The natural order Scrophulacca, to which the foxglove and 
the monkey flower belong, has some poisonous species, none of 
which are native of Becker County to my knowledge, but some 
of them that do grow here are of a suspicious character. 

A plant of much importance in the domestic economy of 
the Indians is the wild rice. For generations this plant fur- 
nished them with their daily bread, or at least with about every- 
thing in the shape of bread they had to eat. As most people 
will know it grows in the water where it is from two to 
ten feet deep. The seeds rapidly take root in soft mud, and in 
the old beds of sunken straw from former growths of wild rice, 
of which there is frequently a depth of several feet down deep 



40 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

in the water, at the bottoms of some of the lakes and ponds. As 
a consequence the growing plants are never very strongly rooted 
and are easily pulled up. The first year I brought a drive of 
logs down the Otter Tail River. I was bothered and put to a 
big expense getting them through the wild rice straw in Height 
of Land Lake, Rice Lake and Blackbird Lake. There had been 
an immense crop the year before and it was still holding by the 
roots to the bottom of the lakes. The next spring, I hit upon 
a device of my own to get rid of the old straw. I made a dam at 
the outlet of Height of Land Lake and another at the outlet 
of Rice Lake, and about the middle of March, when the ice 
in the lakes was about as thick as it was going to get, I closed 
up my dams. The water would then begin to raise the ice in 
the lakes, and the ice would pull up the wild rice straw by 
the roots, and as soon as the ice melted the wind would blow 
the straw ashore where it would be out of the way. The Indians 
gather the wild rice in their canoes and pound ofif the hull from 
the seeds by placing it in holes in the ground, and pounding 
it after the fashion of churning with an old-fashioned up and 
down churn. 

The goldenrod is the national flower of the LTnited States. 
There are forty-two species of Solidago or goldenrod in the 
Northern States, seven of which are found in Becker County, 
and the Solidago Cauadcnses. the national flower is one of the 
seven. 

The Cypripcdiimi or pink lady slipper, the state flower of Minne- 
sota, is also a native of Becker County. 

The most curious plant in the county is the Sarracciiia pur- 
purea, or side-saddle flower, also appropriately called the pitcher- 
plant. The leaves are shaped exactly like a pitcher, and one of 
them will hold a gill of water. They are common in the tamarac 
swamps. 



A Pioneer History oi- Becker County. 41 

Chapter VI. 

PRAIRIES AND NATURAL PARKS. 

A large part of Becker County was originally covered with 
natural forests. The surface of about twenty of the forty town- 
ships in the county was clothed almost exclusively with a good 
growth of timber. In the other twenty townships there were 
tracts of prairie land, varying in size of from one, two and three 
sections in a township, like Lake View or Green Valley, to those 
occupying a whole township like Walworth, and I make the 
proportion of the prairie land to the timber land in these twenty 
townships in the ratio of about four to three, or four-sevenths 
prairie and three-sevenths timber, and as the other twenty town- 
ships were almost exclusively timbered it would leave the surface 
of the whole county about two-sevenths prairie and five-sevenths 
timber, or what is a little nearer the true proportion, four-thir- 
teenths prairie and nine-thirteenths timber. 

The famous Park Region of Northwestern Minnesota occu- 
pies a large part of the western portion of Becker County. 

Charles Carleton Coffin, correspondent of the Boston Journal, 
who came with the first Northern Pacific Railroad exploring 
expedition through this region in 1869, first gave it the name 
of the Park Region, and he sounded the praises of the Park 
Region and of Becker County throughout the length and breadth 
of the land. His letters were copied in other newspapers far 
and wide, and his descriptions and pen pictures were neither 
overdrawn nor exaggerated. It was reading one of these letters 
in a Chicago paper that started me on the road to Minnesota 
in September, 1869, and to Becker County the succeeding year. 
A copy of this letter will be found, later on, in the article giving 
an account of the first Northern Pacific Exploring Expedition. 

Bayard Taylor, the celebrated traveler, visited this region 
a short time afterwards, and pictured the Park Region in colors 
equally as glowing. On the nth of August, 1873, Ex-Vice 
President Colfax spent a day in our county, and he pronounced 
the country about Detroit and Audubon the most beautiful he 
had ever laid his eves upon. 



42 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Of the region about Detroit Lake. ex-Governor Bross of Illinois, a 
world-wide traveler, writing to the Chicago Tribune says: "There is scarcely 
a section without a beautiful lake; small prairies, rich and rolling, alternate 
with groves of oak and other hard wood; and, certainly, if any more invit- 
ing region can be found, we have never had the good fortune to see it." 

But there is another park region in the eastern part of om- 
county, that was never seen by either of these eloqtient writers, 
that is still more beatitiful. I refer to the region of the cotintry 
known as the Shell Prairies. The nearest approach to level land 
in Becker County is on these prairies. These prairies begin at 
the Crow Wing River in Hubbard County, and extending in a 
northwesterly direction, this beautiful stretch of prairie land 
enters Becker Cou"ty, at the southeast corner of Osage Town- 
ship, and continues in a northwesterly direction up through 
Osage and Carsonville, varying in width from two to five miles, 
widening out as it enters the Reservation, and occupies nearly 
all of Township No. 141, Range 37. These stretches of prairie 
land are dotted with evergreen groves, consisting chiefly of jack 
pine, with an intermixture of bur-oak as yott proceed to the 
west, and add greatly to the beauty of the landscape. The sur- 
face of these prairies is smooth and unbroken by sloughs or other 
obstructions. This is especially the case with the southeast 
corner township of the White Earth Reservation, which is so 
smooth and unbroken that, barring an occassional small grove of 
timber you can plough a furrow across the township in almost 
any direction. If you wish to see the most beautiful township 
of land in Minnesota, the greater part of which is still in a state of 
nature, and but slightly marred by the hand of civilization, take 
a drive over Township 141, Range 37, the southeast corner town- 
ship of the White Earth Reservation, and I think you will find it 
there. There are some fine farms in the south part of the town- 
ship but they add to rather than detract from its natural beauty 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 43 



Chapter VII. 

Wild Animals of Becker County. 

One hundred years ago the whole Red River Country, in- 
chiding the rolHng country on its eastern border, and also 
including the country about the headwaters of the Mississippi 
and Crow Wing Rivers, was a paradise for wild animals. This 
country at that time was the principal field of operations for 
the Northwest Fur Company, and there was also an opposition 
fur company doing business in the same territory at the same 
time. 

The headquarters of the Northwest Company was then at the 
junction of Park River and the Red, about half way between 
where Grand Forks and Pembina have since been built. At 
this trading post, Alexander Henry, the resident general mana- 
ger of this Fur Company, had his headquarters. There were 
also branch trading posts at the forks of the Red and Red Lake 
Rivers, one at the mouth of the Pembina River, one at Red 
Lake and one at the White Earth in what is now Becker County. 

Immense numbers of furs were taken every year by the Indians 
and half-breeds for this company and shipped by them to Montreal 
in Canada. They were taken in birch-bark canoes down the Red 
River to Lake Winnipeg, thence up the Winnipeg River to the 
Lake of the Woods, thence via Rainy River, the Great Lakes and 
the St. Lawrence to Montreal. 

In the year 1798, according to the official report of the North- 
west Fur Company, they shipped to Montreal by way of Lake 
Superior the following list of skins in round numbers. 

Beaver 106,000 Wolverine 600 

Bear 2,100 Fisher 1.650 

Fox 5,500 Raccoon xoo 

Otter 4,600 Buffalo robes 500 

Muskrat .' 17,000 Elk 700 

Marten 32,000 Deer 750 

Mink 1,800 Dressed deer skin 1.200 

Lynx 6,000 

The opposition fur company must also have secured nearly as 
many. Of these furs the territory now included in Becker Coun- 
ty furnished a fair proportion. 



44 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Neil's History of Minnesota has this to say of Alexander 
Henry, who during the year 1800 and for several years after- 
wards was in charge of these trading posts. 

Alexander Henry, the second, was a nephew of Alexander Henry, one 
of the first subjects of Great Britain who traded at Lapoint before the 
Revolutionary War, and whose book of travels is well known to the 
literary world. The nephew was a partner of the Northwest Fur Company, 
and although his education was limited, his perception was quick, and 
his pen that of a ready writer. He kept a journal for several years during- 
his residence in the Red River Country, and but few journals contain so 
many important statements. His notes ought to be published. 

The Hon. Norman W. Kitson. once a member of the Legislature from 
the Red River Country was a relative of the writer of this journal. 

E. D. N. 

Since the above was published the journal of Alexander 
Henry has been published in full by Professor Elliott Coues. 
As I have used numerous quotations from the above mentioned 
journal, I deemed it appropriate that I should give a brief ac- 
count of the author, as I have here done. 

I have included in these articles all the wild animals that 
ever inhabitated Becker Cotmty as far as my knowledge extends,, 
although some may have been omitted that I know not of. 

The information given in the following pages is largely my 
own experience, together with incidents and adventures that have 
come under my own personal knowledge, with a few extracts from 
competent authors to help out where my personal knowledge 
is insufficient to convey a fair conception of the character and 
habits of certain species of animals. I have not undertaken 
to arrange them in any scientific order, although I have en- 
deavored to keep the different families together. 



The Buffalo. 



I begin my history of Becker County animals with the 
buflfalo, because it is the largest and most distinctly American 
of all the wild animals inhabiting this continent. In my opinion 
it would have been a more fitting emblem of our national flag 
than the piratical eagle. The western part of Becker County 
was formerly a favorite summer range for the buflfalo, and their 
skeletons have been found in all parts of the county. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 45 

In 1870 while engaged in surveying for the Government, I 
found a great many of their bones scattered over the prairies 
in the townships of Hamden and Cuba. They were particularly 
plentiful near the Buffalo River on sections 9, 10, 15 and 16 in 
the latter township. Buffalo River was so named from the 
immense herds of buffalo that formerly roamed along its banks. 

Many years ago I found a buffalo skeleton, which still had 
some of the hair on its head, in a spring hole on the west shore 
of Long Lake, on section 2'j in the town of Erie, near where 
Millard Howe has since resided, where the buffalo had incau- 
tiously ventured, and was unable to extricate himself. 

I have found buffalo skulls as far east as the Crow Wing 
River in Hubbard County, and Lieutenant Pike, the first Gov- 
ernment explorer of the upper Mississippi River in 1805, found 
several good sized herds of buffalo on the east side of the Mis- 
sissippi, near where Little Falls now stands. 

Major Long, while exploring the Red River Valley in the 
summer of 1823, met a large herd of buffalo a little east of where 
McCauleyville, in Wilkin County, is now located. 

In the spring of 1862, the writer of this article ascended 
the Missouri River on a steamboat belonging to tlie Americ:in 
Fur Company from Sioux City, Iowa, to the Great Falls, near 
the Rocky Mountains. The last sign of civilization at that 
time was at the northern border of Nebraska. On the 27th of 
May we stopped to cut wood on the east side of the river, in 
what is now South Dakota near its present capital. In a little 
opening immediately above where we landed, six bull buft"aloes 
were feeding, apparently unconscious of our presence. Six of 
us started out to surround the bulls. This was a difificvilt task, 
because the little opening of about half an acre was surrounded 
by timber and a dense undergrowth of willows, rose bushes, rip- 
shins and bullberry bushes, which were covered with sharp 
thorns. Our scheme, however, worked to a charm and before 
they knew it. we had them completely surrounded. A well- 
beaten trail ran from the river through to the little opening, 
and from there on through the thickets to the open prairie be- 
yond. When all was ready, three or four of us fired, and two 
bulls fell to the ground. ( )ne of them, however, succeeded in 
getting on his feet again. The four bulls that were unhurt made 
a break for the open prairie along the trail while the wounded 



46 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

bull took the trail for the river. Aly station happened to be 
on this trail. When I saw the bull coming with eyes distorted, 
and blood flowing from his mouth and nostrils, I started for 
the river, too. My gun was empty, and the trail was walled 
in with brush so dense as to be almost impenetrable, and the 
bull was gaining on me at every jump. A wounded bufifalo, 
when enraged and driven to desperation by the hunter is of all 
animals in the world the most diabolical in appearance. He 
was the very image of ferocity and horror. It did not take 
me long to reach the river bank, which was one of those per- 
pendicular-cut banks, peculiar to the Missouri, with a torrent 
of deep muddy water running at its base. I now^ gave a last 
farewell glance over my shoulder at the bull, and just then to 
my surprise and infinite relief, he tumbled headlong to the ground. 
We took him on board the boat and everybody had beef for a while. 

At two different times our steamboat was obliged to stop, 
and tie up alongside the shore to avoid the immense herds of 
buffalo that were floating down the river. The first drove we 
encountered was near where Bismarck in North Dakota is now 
located. The river was nearly half a mile wide and was filled 
nearly its entire width with live buffaloes, and they were at 
least half an hour in passing. We encountered the other drove 
a little above the mouth of the Yellowstone and it must have 
contained at least 20,000 animals. 

There are two peculiarities of the buffalo, which I will men- 
tion. One is the thickness of the hide on the skull of the ani- 
mal, which is at least an inch thick. The old muzzle loading 
rifle ball could not penetrate it, but the modern breech loader 
probably could. I worked hard for ten minutes, with a sharp 
ax, trying to cut a dried scalp in two that came off a 
buffalo bull's pate. It was more than half an inch thick when 
dried, and nearly as hard as sheet iron. The hides of all bulls 
were very thick and heavy, and it took a good strong man to 
handle one. Nearly all the robes were made from the skins 
of cows. The Indians always tanned buffalo robes by using 
the brains of the animal, and they tanned buckskins the same 
way. The other peculiarity is the ease and quickness with 
which it springs to the ground when suddenly alarmed. Instead 
of raising itself first by two legs, and then by the other two, 



A PioNKER History of Bi^ckhr County. 47 

like the ox or the horse, the buffalo springs to the ground with 
its four feet all at once and in an instant, with but little eft'ort. 
Buffaloes live to be thirty or fory years old and are not full 
grown until six. 

The following extracts from the journal of Alexander Henry, 
will show that the buft'alo formerly existed in the Red River 
country in immense numbers, and that their visits were not 
confined to the summer season. 

Mr. Henry says : 

Sunday, May 6th, 1800. 
At Bois Prere, near where we are camped, has been a great buffalo 
crossing for many years. The ground on both sides is beaten as hard as 
a pavement, and the roads leading to the Red River are a foot deep, and 
I am at a loss and bewildered in attempting to form any idea of the 
numerous herds of buffalo which may have passed here. 

Sept. nth, 1800. 
I climbed up a tall oak tree which I trimmed for the purpose, and 
from the top of it I had an extensive view of the surrounding country. 
Buffalo and elk were everywhere to be seen passing to and fro. Four 
of my men returned today having killed fourteen bears. 

I shot a wolf that was passing by and killed him dead. Buffalo come 
down to drink, both day and night, near our camp but we seldom molest 
them. 

Sept. 18th, 1800. 
I took my morning view from the top of my oak tree and saw more 
buffalo than ever before. They formed one body, commencing about half 
a mile from camp, from whence the plain was covered as far as the eye 
could reach. 

November 7th, 1800. 

We saw a great herd of cows going at full speed southward but on 
coming to our track, which goes to the salt spring, they began to smell 
the ground, and as suddenly as if they had been fired at, turned towards 
the hills in an easterly direction. It is surprising how sagacious these 
animals are. When in the least alarmed they will smell the track of even 
a single person in the grass, and run away in a contrary direction. I have 
seen large herds, walking very slowly to pasture, and feeding as they went, 
come to a place where some persons had passed on foot, when they 
would instantly stop, smell the ground and draw back a few paces, bellow, 
and tear up the earth with their horns. 

Sometimes the whole herd would range along the route, keeping up a 
terrible noise, until one of them was hardy enough to jump over, when 
they would all follow and run some distance. 



48 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

December ist, 1800. 
Some Cree Indians informed me today, that they had seen a calf as 
white as snow in a herd of bufifalo. White bufifalo are very scarce. 
There is also once in a great while one of a dirty gray, but they are 
very rare also. 

January 4th, 1801. 
We have had a terrible snow storm. I can count from the top of my 
oak tree, twenty or thirty herds of buffalo feeding out on the prairie. 
It is surprising how the cow bufTalo resists the cold piercing North winds 
which at times blow with such violence over these bleak plains, whicH 
causes such a drift that it is impossible to face it for any length of time. 
Still these animals will stand grazing in the open fields. 

January 14th, 1801. 
At daybreak I was awakened by the bellowing of buffaloes. On my 
right the plains were black and appeared in motion. Opposite the trad- 
ing post the ice was covered, and on my left the river below us was 
covered with bufifalo moving northward. I dressed and climbed my 
oak tree for a better view. I had seen almost incredible numbers of 
buffalo in the fall, but nothing in comparison to what I now beheld. The 
ground was covered at every point of the compass as far as the eye 
could reach, and every animal was in motion. 

January 25th, iSoi. 

A herd of cow buffaloes were crossing the river on the ice near the 
trading post, when dogs chased them and prevented one from landing. 
Perceiving this the men took a rope which they doubled and entangled 
her legs in such a manner that she fell on her side. She lay quiet for a 
while, while they fastened the rope around her horns and dragged her 
to the post. Here she jumped up and made at the dogs, taking no notice 
of us. Crow and Pierre, two half-breeds jumped on her back, but it 
did not incommode her in the least. She was as nimble in kicking and 
jumping at the dogs as before, although they both were heavy men, 
weighing nearly 200 pounds apiece. She was not full grown and very lean. 
What must be the strength of a full grown bull, which is twice the weight 
of a cow? It is common to see a bull weigh 1,500 pounds, but a cow is 
seldom over 700 or 800 pounds gross. 

A fat cow killed in the autumn, weighs from 600 to 700 pounds. .\ 
lean cow seldom exceeds 300 pounds. I have weighed 150 cows, killed 
from Sept. ist to Feb. ist, and found they averaged 400 pounds each. 
Bulls in the same space of time average 550 pounds. Two-year-old heifers, 
in autumn, average 200 pounds. One-year-old calves, in autumn, average 
no pounds. These weights are exclusive of the ofifals. But the total 
eatable meat of one full-grown bull, as received in the store house, weighed 
800 pounds. One thigh alone weighed 85 pounds. This bull was in full 
flesh, but had neither inside tallow nor back fat; which gives me reason 
to suppose that a full-grown bull, killed fat, about July ist, would weigh 
about 1,800 pounds, ofifals included. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 49 

March 30th, 1801. 
Rain has broken np the ice in the Red River. It drifted in large 
masses, making a great noise by crushing, tumbling and tossing in every 
direction driven by a strong current. It continued to drift on the 31st, 
bearing great numbers of dead buffalo from above, which must have 
Ijeen drowned in attempting to cross while the ice was weak. 

Wednesday, April ist, 1801. 
The Red River is clear of ice, but drowned buffalo continue to drift 
by in entire herds. Several of them have lodged on the banks of the 
river near this place. Some of the squaws have cut up the fattest of 
them for their own use, and their flesh appears to be fresh and good. It 
is really astonishing what vast numbers of them must have perished, for 
they formed one continued line in the middle of the river for two days 
and two nights. 

April i8th, iBoi. 
Rain. Drowned buffalo still drifting down the river, but not in such 
vast numbers as before, many have lodged on the bank and along the 
beach. 

April, 25th. 
Drowned buffalo drift down the river day and night. 

AlEx.^nder Henry. 

Elliott Coues, the editor of Henry's Journal says : 

This account is not exaggerated. John McDonnell's Journal of May 
i8th, 1795, when descending Qu' Appelle River, states: Observing a good 
many carcasses of buffaloes in the river and along its banks, I was taken 
up the whole day in counting them, and to my surprise I had numbered, 
when we put up at night, 7,360, drowned and mired along the river and in 
it. In one or two places, went on shore and walked from one carcass to 
another, where they lay from three to five buffaloes deep. 

As to the exact time when the Buffalo left Becker County, or 
Minnesota, I am unable definitely to state. For this and other 
valuable information with reference to this subject, I am indebted 
to the Hon. R. M. Prol)sfield, of Clay County, Minnesota, which 
I will insert in full : 

MoorhEad, Minnesota, October, igoi. 

Hon. A. H. Wilcox, 
Frazee, Minn. 
"My Dear Sir: 

''I am sorry that I cannot assist you to an}- extent regarding the 
habitat of buffalo in Becker County during my time in the valley of the 
Red River, which dates from April ist. 1859. On my first trip to this 
valley. I came by the way of Crow Wing, Otter Tail City, and crossed 
Detroit Lake from the southwest on the ice to the present site of Detroit, 
and left the old trail at or near Oak Lake. I have no doubt but that 
during those years mentioned above, the buffalo did occasionally roam 
over the western or prairie part of Becker County in small stray herds, 



50 A PioNEKR History of Beckicr County. 

and tliat previous to my settlement in the country the buffalo roamed in 
large numbers in the same range of country, as was shown by numerous 
skulls and bones I have passed on the prairie between Oak Lake and Lake 
Park. Especially do I remember one place, perhaps two or three miles a 
little north of west from where Audubon is located. The bones were 
scattered over an area of nearly a section of land and there must have been 
nearly one hundred skeletons at that location. 

Clay County was not a steady place of abode of the buffalo during my 
time as I have seen them only four different years from 1859 to 1868. 
In 1859 one Henry Block and myself killed five during the week before 
Christmas, killing three of them one day and two more the next two days 
following. The snow was deep and we crawled onto them by stealth. We 
only saw eight altogether, killing the last late one evening. There were 
three left, it being dark and too cold to attempt anything more. The 
thermometer was twenty-five degrees below zero, with a northewst wind, 
very strong, so that we were glad to return to our tents. The next 
morning, we could not see any of them and having meat enough for what 
people there were there at that time did not attempt to find any more. 
The last one we killed was spoiled the next morning, as we had not dressed 
him the evening before. We were very cold and it was too late to do so. 
It may seem strange that an animal should spoil with the thermometer at 
twenty degrees below zero, but the bullet penetrated the stomach and 
tainted the meat, so we only hauled four carcasses home. They were all 
old, big bulls, probably driven out of the herd they came from by the 
younger blood, as it seems is their habit. 

The next herd was on the Dakota side, beginning about three miles 
north from Georgetown, stretching west and north along the Red River. 
We only penetrated the herd as far as Elm River, thirteen miles north 
of Georgetown where it empties into the Red River. There may have 
been 10,000 or 100,000 of them for all we could tell, as we could not see 
their limit either north or west. A few got across the Red River onto the 
Minnesota side. We only killed four of them. This was in July, 1866, 
and very hot, and the half-breeds did not wish to kill more than they could 
use without spoiling. On this occasion I killed my first buffalo on horse- 
back, with a Colt's navy revolver, but that exhausted every shot (6) and I 
had no more to reload with. I followed the old bull up until he expired. 
My experience was not pleasant, and had not my saddle horse known 
more about buffalo hunting on horseback than I did, I probably would not 
be here to write this. The next small herd was seen in 1867, twenty-five in 
all. We found them about two and one-half miles east of Georgetown. 
The half-breeds killed three, and did not want any more, it being July and 
very hot. This time I did not attempt myself to do any shooting, as I 
took my wife and two children out on the hunt to see the performance. 
We rode in an old bull cart, and it was a rough ride. 

The last buffalo seen was at Georgetown, near the Hudson Bay build- 
ings, and within fair rifle shot. It was in September, 1868. I only had 
a muzzle loader rifle and got one shot into one (there were only two), and 
before I could reload they were 120 rods away and I cannot tell if my 
second shot hit. Following up the trail, I could find the blood on the dry 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 51 

grass. They crossed the Buffalo River at the mouth of it, and I did not 
follow them any further. These were the last wild buffalo I saw in the 
valley. Several years afterwards there was one shot not very far from 
Fargo, only one being seen. 

This is all I can tell you of the buffalo history from my own experience. 

Very truly yours, 

R. M. ProbsField. 

These were the last buffalo ever seen in Minnesota to the best 
of my knowledge. The last time any buffalo were seen in Dakota 
Territory east of the Missouri River, was, I think, in 1875. 

In the summer of 1874. a surveying party in the employ, and 
under the direction of George G. Beardsley, with Melville H. 
Davis as a compassman, ran the nth Standard Parallel, from a 
point in what is now North Dakota, near where the village of 
Hillsboro now stands, running their line due west to the Mis- 
souri River. 

Sometime in September their line took them throtigh the 
Hawk's Nest, a grove of timber containing about forty acres, 
which stood alone on the prairie, some thirty miles west of 
the James River and not far from where the village of Carring- 
ton now stands. Near the Hawk's Nest they encountered a herd 
of buffalo, numbering about three hundred animals. They had 
no time to devote to hunting, but about the 20th of October, 
after the party had disbanded two of its members who lived 
at Jamestown, started from that place for the Hawk's Nest to 
hunt buffalo, each man being provided with two yoke of oxen and 
a wagon with which to haul home the meat. The names of these 
men were John Nichols and Merritt Wiseman. Nichols was one 
of the best men on the prairies, and on a government survey, I 
ever knew. I had him with me in 1875 and again in 1880. Wise- 
man was with me in the spring of 1872, examining land in Atlanta, 
Walworth and the Wild Rice country in Minnesota. 

The two men with their teams and wagons found the buft'alo 
about 30 miles northwest of the Hawk's Nest late in the after- 
noon of the 24th day of October, 1874, where the herd was quietlv 
feeding on the prairie. They unyoked their oxen and turned 
them loose to graze, while they themselves went directly to 
shooting buffalo. The animals evidently had not been hunted 
as they were easily approached, and it was an easy matter to 
get within gunshot range. When night set in thev had killed 



52 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

five or six and by the time they had reached their camp it was 
dark, and their oxen had wandered away, and were nowhere 
to be found. This did not cause them any uneasiness, however, 
as they flattered themselves that they would not wander far 
and could be readily found in the morning". They set up their 
tent, eat their supper and turned in for the night, the weather 
at the time being warm and pleasant. About midnight, how- 
ever, a terrible snow storm accompanied bv a strong north 
wind, swept over the prairie and by the next morning had as- 
sumed the proportions of a regular blizzard. 

I was caught out in the same storm on Apple Creek, nine 
miles northeast of Bismarck, where I was camped with one other 
man, and it stormed so hard that we did not get out of our 
bed until eleven o'clock the next day, when we eat a little bread 
and butter and started for Bismarck, which place we reached 
with considerable difficulty. 

Nichols and Wiseman did not leave their tent the first day 
of the storm at all, but on the ensuing day, the storm having 
subsided, they searched the adjacent country far and near for 
their oxen, but the snow had obliterated every track, and not 
a sign or trace of an ox could be found. They continued the 
search for two days more with no better success, and then gave 
it up. They were now 80 miles from Jamestown, and at least 
60 miles from the nearest point on the N. P. R. R., and there 
were no settlers or white people short of that distance in any 
direction. They were w'ell supplied with provisions for several 
weeks, but winter was at hand, and the outlook for getting back 
to civilization was anything but cheering, but the longer it was 
delayed the more difficult it was liable to become. 

Wiseman was a large heavy man, a little clumsy, not over 
ambitious and a poor traveler on foot at the best, and he de- 
cided that he could never walk to the railroad. 

Nichols was a man of different calibre. Tie was then in the 
prime of life, of medium size, strongly built and brim full of 
vitality and energy. He at once decided to make the attempt 
to reach the railroad. In fact that was their only salvation. 
Accordingly on the morning of October 28th with two davs 
rations in his pockets, he started in a southerly direction over 
the snow covered prairies. The snow was a foot deep on an 
average, making the traveling extremely laborious. He traveled 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 53 

the entire distance wthout halting, never stopping to rest, eat 
or sleep. He ate as he walked, taking liis course by his pocket 
compass and the sun by day, and by the stars at night, covering 
the entire distance in about thirty hours, traveling all day the 
28th. all the succeeding night and half of the 29th, reaching 
the Xorthern Pacific Railroad near where the village of Steele, 
the county seat of Kidder Comity, is now located. 

Staving all night with Thompson, an old Scotchman, who 
was running the Xorthern Pacific Railroad pump at the then 
14th siding he took the cars the next morning for Jamestown, 
where he procured a horse and buckboard a day or two after- 
wards, and started back after Wiseman, arriving at the bufifalo 
camp in due time. He took Wiseman back home to James- 
town, leaving the wagons and a large part of their outfit, and 
nearly all of the buffalo meat behind. The next spring they 
made another trip to the buffalo range with two yoke of oxen, 
and were again successful in finding the herd of buft'alo on their 
old feeding grounds. They killed several, but most of them 
were in rather poor condition and they only hauled home about 
a ton of meat, which they sold for $90. These were the last 
buffalo killed, I think, by white men east of the Missouri River. 
One pair of their oxen was found the next spring near the 
Sheyenne River in a starving condition, another pair was killed 
l)y the Indians during the winter in the same vicinitv, but the 
other fonr oxen were never heard from. 

During the season of 1875, ^ party of half-breeds, then lo- 
cated at Valley City, but who for man_\- years before had lived 
at Pelican Rapids, in Minnesota, moved up to the Hawk's Nest 
and hunted this band of buft'aloes until they killed the last 
animal in the herd. I was in Dakota surveying, every }ear from 
1873 until 1882 inclusive, working back and forth from the Red 
River to the Missouri, and covering a wide range of comitry 
north and south, and I feel sure that these were the last of those 
interesting animals found east of the Missouri River in any 
part of the United States. 

The Pacific railroads were the final undoing of the buff"alo. 
and l;)y 1888 the last remnants of the southern herds were ex- 
terminated in southwestern Texas, and the last of the herds 
of the northern part of the United States were annihilated in 
Montana about the same time. 



54 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

the United States, probably s^ .nU^^utj """" ''"' °' 

Buffalo Killed at White Earth. 

Mr. a. H. Wilcox, 
Frazee, Minn. 
Dear Sir: 

or thereabout. * 'P *° ^'"^ reservation in 1848. 

My recollection of this trin as fr^u u t 

Canadian vovageur who l! ^ u""' ^^ "^^^"'^ ^°"'-"^'-- a" old 

at the time 'refer d To in 8.8 ' 7 .•'.' ''' ^"^^"^^" ^- Company 

- by Joseph Jonl: onTfi^'^ttZZr '""'"'^T '''''''' ^° 
who died two years a<.o ,-. ^ ,, '^ members on this reservation, 

near as I can Jt^^t^C^:, J, C r^ S'^Tv''' 'T ''''' ^ 
;n charge of the American Fur Compa y sttettf ^^ ^e" ci:; "" ^'^" 
try, was mformed that a very lar^e herd of K ff Chippewa coun- 

Earth Lake and vicinity its w n 5' ^ "'^^ """' "'"'"'"^ ^^'^^ 

-all party from Sandy tal" il' 1 g":; M:' jln H^f''^' " ^^"^ ^ 
father to Ben. L. Fairbanks, and fatLr of Robert S^' !nd lib 'iT'" 
banks, whom you no doubt knew tr. i.-n "°^, ' ^'^•' ^nd Albert Fair- 
supply of the traders of^h. ! '"°"^^ ^"^^'^ f^'" the winter 
to the White Earth Lake or "If"" "'T ^"'"^ ^"^^^ ^^^ ^"butary 
party left Sandy Lake in k^tk' r "°" ^''^''^ "^"""^^ ^-"t-^^- The 
with several "og tratns the on T^ ."""^ ''^ "°"^^ ^^ ^^^ruary 

and was ioined ^by^aT^addiLr^foTcf ^ro^ SLT'^" "^ ^^r.^^^^' 
Joseph Jourdan referred to Tj 7 ^ ' ^"^^^S which was 

where my father' farm is II ""l" "^ 'r^'' '' "''* ^^ "°" ^'^^ Lake, 

started ou^t dail^t^o chTse 'U 2 wSic^ ;h:rdid Tot t:[^ ^^^ ^""f^ 
in overtaking on account of th. 7 ""^ ™"^^' trouble 

being on snowshoes "^ ^^'^ "^°"' ^^^^ ^^'"^"^ themselves 

and''o^fe"t„^:LVrrlTaf! '"ih^^"^ ^-^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^-t, 
Mr. Fairbanks stared Tt after buff , A r""'' "" ^"'^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 

in the morning the balance of tL . ' ■ ^^T '''''' ""' ^'^^t o'clock 
a number of sLts m 'r^^i^ Ji iT^.T^Tl'ir "T'--''-' 
Smith's farm is now located, an^d Mr^crurl\^1I':5LeTy-;,^-f ;;,2 



A Pio.xiiER History of Becker County. 55 

snowshoes and started for the point from whence the sound of the 
shooting came. When he arrived at Winfield Smith's Lake he saw Mr. 
Fairbanks shooting at an old bull buffalo, and before he brought it down 
he had fired fifteen or twenty shots at him. My Uncle Paul, who was 
an expert bufifalo hunter, had steered Mr. Fairbanks up against the bull 
knowing that it was so old that the chances, on account of its thick, 
scabby skin, were nearly even to have it escape or be killed, and the 
former wanted to get a joke on the latter who was his father-in-law. 

Mr. Courrier said that the herd scattered as soon as the first shots 
were fired by my Uncle Paul, but he followed a number of cows and 
calves that ran along the edge of the woods towards what is now the 
Agency, and shot one at every hundred yards or so, so that he had killed 
nearly enough to load the trains of the party with meat before the arrival 
of the Red Lake contingent. 

The party continued to hunt in this vicinity for more than a week, 
but Uncle Paul was probably the first one that killed any bufifalo within 
this county — I mean of that particular party — as his first day's shooting 
seems to have extended to a point opposite the old trading post two 
miles north of this village. 

The party returned to their respective trading posts laden with bufifalo 
meat. . In this connection, only the choicest pieces were taken and not 
a bit of bone was loaded on to the trains. 

I cannot recall all the details of the trip as told to me by both Mr. 
Courrier and Mr. Jourdan, but I have not forgotten all of them and 
know they were very interesting. 

Yours truly, 

Gus. H. BE-^ulieu. 




m 
O 
O 



A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 57 



The Moose. 

With the exception of the buffalo, the moose is the largest wild 
animal ever found in Minnesota, if not in the United States. It 
is still found in northern Minnesota in large numbers, and is as 
plentiful now as at any time in the past, and is still frequently met 
with in Becker County. When seen in its native wilds, the male 
moose with a full set of horns, is a noble and formidable looking 
animal. He reminds one of a big ox circulating around with a 
two-armed rocking chair on the top of his head. Moose have 
been killed weighing eighteen hundred pounds. 

The moose frequently makes himself at home among domestic 
cattle, although their friendship is not always duly appreciated 
by the cattle. In 1862, '63. '64. I had a partner in the gold mines in 
Montana by the name of John D. Brown, an Irishman by birth, 
who passed through Becker County in 1857 on his way to the 
Rocky Mountains. His party followed the old Red River trail 
from Sauk Rapids and Long Prairie up to Otter Tail City. It was 
late in the fall, and the snow was several inches deep. The first 
night after leaving Otter Tail City they camped on the old trail 
between the two lakes- on what is now Section 36 in the town of 
Burlington, near where Herman Fisher now resides. The old 
Red River road ran around between those two lakes then. They 
were traveling with ox teams, and did not reach their camping 
place until nearly midnight. The men and cattle were all tired, 
but just about the time they had finished their suppers a bull 
moose charged in among the oxen, evidently thinking they were 
some of his own kind. This frightened the oxen, and a regular 
stampede took place. They took the trail leading in a north- 
westerly direction crossing the Otter Tail River and the moose 
after them. Two Frenchmen in the party followed after the oxen, 
but they did not overtake them until the middle of the forenoon 
the next day, when they found them near Floyd Lake, two miles 
north of where Detroit is now, and the moose was still with them. 

I never saw but one live moose in Becker County, and it was 
with a band of four or five deer, crossing the Otter Tail River a 
little below my saw^ mill at the Erie bridge, in the spring of 1887. 

In the summer and fall of 1892, T saw a good many moose 
while surve^■in^■ on the Red Lake Reservation in Marshall Count\' 



58 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

for the government. It was surprising with what ease they 
would cross the marshes and floating bogs in that swampy coun- 
try. Instead of walking or trotting along squarely on their feet, 
as they would on hard land, they appeared to travel with a kind 
of a lope, or a bound and hop, on the knees of their fore legs, 
and on the gambrel joints or hunkers of their hind legs. On one 
occasion we though we could run down a moose that we found 
in a boggy marsh, but were astonished to see with what ease it 
oustripped us in the race. An ox or a horse could not have kept 
up on the marsh for a distance of ten rods without getting hope- 
lessly mired. 

One evening in August, about sundown, a big bull moose 
with a monstrous pair of horns happened to get his eyes on our 
camp, which consisted of three tents standing on the edge of a 
small prairie. He circled back and forth, coming a little nearer 
at every turn, while George Senacle, of Lake View, in our county, 
crept down through an adjacent patch of brush with a gun to get 
a shot at him. The rest of us skulked behind a tent to keep out 
of sight. The curiosity of the moose kept drawing him closer 
and closer, until he had ventured up within ten or twelve rods of 
our tent, and still nearer to Senacle with his gun. We all kept 
completely hid from view except Bill McCart. He was so long 
we could not entirely hide him. We tried to double him up 
like a jack-knife, but in spite of all we could do, one end of him 
would stick out, and finally the moose got his eye on that particu- 
lar end, when he gave a snort and away he went over the prairie, 
like a hobby-horse in a merry-go-round. 

On another occasion, I was running a line near the west line of 
Beltrami County, through scattering poplars and tall grass, sighting 
to trees or stumps or anything that happened to be in the right 
place for the line. Willie Moore was head chainman, and was fol- 
lowing close to my heels through the grass, which was three or 
four feet high. I took sight on what I thought was a black stump 
sticking up through the grass and which was exactly in line and 
started to go to it. When within forty or fifty feet, I noticed that 
my object moved a little, so I remarked to Willie that there was 
a moose ahead of us, and sure enough there was a cow moose and 
her calf with their heads down in the grass licking away at a 
little spot of alkali ground, or what in some parts of the country 
they call a "deer lick." We watched them for two or three min- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 59 

iites, when the old cow made the discovery of our presence and 
gave a snort, and away they went. 

The following is from the Detroit Record of Nov. 21st, 1892: 

A Dakota hunting party, who have been spending a month in the 
Lake Itasca region, came into town last Tuesday with three wagon loads 
of game. They had four large moose, and twelve deer. The game was 
bought by Stephens Bros, for shipment. One of the moose, a five year 
old cow, weighed about twelve hundred, and Mr. Stephens is preparing 
the hide for mounting. One of the deer, a line buck, dressed over 250 
pounds. How does such game strike the eastern jack-snipe shooters? 

Mrs. West. 




ELK. 



A Pioneer Histokv of Becker County. 6i 



The Elk. 

A full grown male elk, with a full set of horns is the most 
noble and majestic animal in North America. 

The elk former])- roamed over Becker County in large num- 
bers, but suddenly disappeared with the first settlement of the 
country. For several years afterwards, however, elk horns were 
found in dififerent parts of the county in considerable numbers. 

I saw three elk in the spring of 1872 near the South branch 
of the Wild Rice, north from Lake Park, and Peter Parker, 
whose home was then at White Earth, informs me that he saw 
two near Cormorant Lake in the latter part of April that same 
spring. 

Henry Way also informs me he saw two in the Southwest 
part of the county in 1872. These are the last elks I ever heard 
of in Becker County. 

Alexander Henry says : 

Aug. 25th, 1800. 

One of the Indians killed a large elk, which he gave me. Sept. 5th i8oo. 

At five o'clock the canoes arrived and camped. Aly men told me 
they had seen a great many elk and bears crossing; large herds were seen 
at every turn. The Indians in the canoe had killed four otters and three , 
beaver. This evening the hunters returned, having killed four elk, and one 
buffalo, all extremely fat. 

September nth, 1800. 
The Indians set out early to hunt, and killed four bears and eight elk. 

A. Henry. 

Another letter from ni}' friend Probsfield in reference to the 
elk in Becker County, I will insert. He says : 

Elk have been at home throughout the whole Red River country and 
as far east as Deer Creek in Otter Tail County, where I saw the first I ever 
saw in March, 1859. I have seen them near the western border of the 
White Earth Reservation, in Becker County, and have killed one on the 
so-called Engelbromer farm in Western Becker County in the year 1865, 
and know that elk meat was the main supply of meat for the half-breeds 
and Indians all over the Northwest, between Red River and the Big Timber 
on the east. 



62 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Elk seem to like a prairie country, interspersed with groves of timber, 
as more were to be found in such localities than where it was all prairie. 
Along the Red River and its tributaries they were frequently found, 
especially, and more so in the winter time; but up on the higher lands 
and especially throughout the so-called Park Region, they were more 
plentiful than in the Red River Valley, and Becker, Otter Tail, Grant, Pope 
and Stevens Counties had a goodly share of them forty years ago, but the 
growing settlements appeared to crowd them out. 

I have no doubt that a good many other counties in Western Minne- 
sota were roamed over by them. I have seen them between Lake George 
and Lake Henry in Stearns County, on Round Prairie in Todd County 
and at Chippewa Lake in Douglas County, and from what I saw, I came 
to the conclusion that their range was much more extensive than what 
came under my rather limited observation. 

Yours truly, 

R. M. Probsf'iEld. 

The elk is about twice the size of the common deer of 
Minnesota, with horns of the same pattern, but about three 
times as large, being larger in proportion to the size of the 
animal than those of the deer. 

The elk was formerly distributed well over Minnesota. In 
1805, Lieutenant Z. M. Pike speaks of large bands of elk east 
of the Mississippi River, in what is now Morrison County. 
Forty years ago they were very abundant in the vicinity of all 
the timber skirted streams on the plains of Dakota and Montana, 
and well up into the Rocky Mountains. They were particular- 
ly abundant along the borders of the Missouri River in what 
is now North Dakota. 

About the first of June, 1862, four of us started across a 
timbered bottom land of the Missouri River, near where Wash- 
burn, N. D., is now, to see what we could find in the way of 
game. We spread out twenty or thirty rods apart, and then 
started west from the river in the direction of the open plains 
beyond. 

We had not gone more than sixty rods, when a large animal, 
which I at first thought was a mule, jumped up and started on 
a run obliquely to the left of me. I was astonished to see a mule 
in that wild Indian country, for there was not a white settler 
living within 300 miles of the place at that time. It finally dawned 
on me that the running animal was an elk, without horns. In a 
few seconds it had gone beyond the distance for a successful shot 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 63 

from my ritie, but later on I heard the report of a ritie to my 
left, at which the elk turned and ran through the timber ahead 
of me and was soon out of sight. I quickly found its trail, which 
I followed not more than twenty rods and there found the elk 
stretched on the ground, a lifeless mass. It was a beautiful animal, 
and weighed so much that it was a heavy load for the four of 
us to carry it to the steamboat after it was dressed. 




CARIBOU. 



A PioxKivK IlisT(!Kv ()F Becker County. 65 



The Caribou. 

1 have never found an Indian or white man who had ever 
seen a caribou in Becker County. The nearest trace I can find 
of them is at Leech Lake and Red Lake. Old North-Wind says 
he saw a herd of them at Sandy Lake, forty or fifty }ears ago, 
and that he had seen them at Leech Lake since that time. 

There is a herd of reindeer in Alaska, brought over from 
Lapland a few years ago, and I have seen men who have seen 
these animals, and have also seen caribou near by them, and they 
sav there is no perceptible difl:"erence between the tw^o animals. 

I had this photograph taken in British Columbia and I 
insert it here for comparison wdth the moose and the elk. It is 
much smaller than either. 

I have seen a pair of their horns that were found in Becker 
Countv, so I will give it a place in my book. 



The Common or White-tailed Deer. 

r)f all the wild animals of North America classed as big 
game, the common deer was the most generally and widely 
distributed, the best known and comes the nearest to being 
the ideal and favorite game of the stalwart hunter. 

The white-tailed deer is the only species that I am aware 
of inhabiting Becker County, although in 1890 I saw two deer 
in Height of Land Township that at the time I was sure were 
black-tailed deer, but as I did not see their tails I may have 
been mistaken. The black-tailed deer instead of being a reddish 
l)n)wn like our common deer is a dark gray, with very large 
ears, broad at the ends, and has a short tail w'ith a black tip. 
The common deer is too well known to need any description, 
and it is to be hoped that it will continue to be so for years 
to come. 

When the countrv first began to be settled up, they were no 
more plentiful than now, but they began to increase with the 
growth of the settlements, so that by 1874 and for several years 
afterwards, there w^as fine deer hunting in the timbered parts 
of Cormorant, Lake Eunice, Lake \^iew^ and Burlington ; although 



66 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 

they generally left those towns for the pineries farther east after 
winter had fairly set in. In the beginning of the year 1880, when 
Holmeville, Erie and Height of Land were getting fairly well set- 
tled, deer became more numerous there than ever before, and the 
Shell Prairie regions farther east w^ere a favorite resort for the deer 
the year around. In those days deer were slaughtered by wholesale 
and as there was no law against selling the venison at certain seasons 
it was no unusual sight to see them hauled to the railroad stations 
by the sleigh load, and to see them stacked up on the freight house 
platforms by the score. 

I never had an opportunity of ascertaining the number killed 
in any one season in Becker County, but in the winter of 1878- 
79 I was in Morrison County, traveling over the different parts 
of the country all winter, visiting all the lumber camps and fre- 
quently camping with hunters at night. I took considerable 
pains to ascertain the number of deer killed in the county that 
winter, and it amounted to more than 1,400 that I was sure of. 
I have hunted deer but little in Minnesota, and never shot at 
but one in Becker County. In September, 1878, I had been up 
in the Height of Land Lake country ten days, all alone, and was 
following my way down the east side of the Otter Tail River 
in the town of Erie on my way home. \\'hen near the north 
line of Section 35 I heard something plunge into a big hole in 
the river on the opposite side. This hole at that time was 
wide and deep, much wider and deeper than now. R. L. Frazee 
drowned a span of mules by breaking through the ice in that 
same hole the winter before. I could hear the animal swimming 
toward me, and in a short time a fine buck landed about sixty 
yards ahead and started on a dead run across a little opening. 
I had a pistol with a barrel about eight inches long with a 
little skeleton breech, which I carried in my belt, and with this 
I fired at the deer as it ran, shooting it straight through the 
heart. It w^as getting dark when I killed the deer, but I dragged 
it across to the west side of the river and went on down to 
Samuel Pearce's in the town of Burlington, who at that time 
lived the farthest up the river of any white settler. He and his 
son William hitched up the oxen and wagon and drove up in 
the dark and brought back the deer. 



A Pioneer History of Be;cker County. 67 

The (leer are nnicli lart^er in ATinnesota than in other sec- 
tions of the country west and south. In Montana a white 
tailed doe will not wei^h more than sixty pounds, dressed, on an 
average, and a Imck not more than one hundred pounds. The same 
may he said of the deer in Arkansas and Texas. In ^Minnesota 
thc\- will weigh nearly twice that much. 

The bucks, as most people know, shed their horns at the 
beginning of the winter, after which they are inclined to herd 
together by themselves, although when a country begins to settle 
with white people, they are much less inclined to bunch together. 

In the winter of 1863 and 1864 I was hunting near the Bear 
Tooth Mountain in ^lontana about fifteen miles north of where 
Helena now stands. There were three of us together riding 
through a forest of ])ines, when we heard a rushing sound be- 
hind us as if a hurricane was sweeping through the woods. 
Just then a herd of deer came rushing past that my partners 
estimated at 200 animals. We all fired into the drove from 
horseback, but our horses had become wild with fright at the 
unusual sight, so our aim was bad and we did not kill a single 
deer. 

The deer like the moose is strictl}' an animal i^f the woods, 
seldom venturing out on the prairie. 

When we lived on our homestead at ( )ak Lake, in Detroit 
Township, I had a garden containing about an acre of groimd, 
in the midst of an oak grove near the house. Tn the summer 
of 1873 a doe took a fancy to our garden, particularly to our 
turnips and cabbages. Mrs. \Mlcox frequently found this "inno- 
cent looking doe" as she called it in either the garden or the 
path between the garden and the house. She never made any 
motions or noise to frighten the doe and it became quite tame 
and would come up within a short distance of her, and also 
come up close to the house and remain awhile and then go 
away at its leisure, but it was always afraid of me. 

Sometimes there would be three deer around the house 
at once, and none of them ap])eared to be afraid of Mrs. Wil- 
cox. 

I once lived almost exclusively on venison for nearly six 
months. I could never have lived that way on tame meat. I 
could eat enormouslv of the venison, averaging six pounds every 



68 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

day. bones counted in. I grew fat, and felt well, and weighed 
more that winter than I ever did before or since but was lazy 
and stupid, and I could readily account for those peculiarities in 
the meat eaters after living for generations on a meat diet. As 
near as I can remember, I ate thirteen whole deer and antelope 
during that time. I wish I had some of them now. 

During the seventies the winters with three or four exceptions, 
in Becker County were long and hard, and the snow correspond- 
ingly deep ; and such winters were usually fraught with disaster 
to the deer, as they were easy victims to both the wolves and the 
hunters. 

The winter of 1880 and 188 1 was especially severe, as were 
also the three following wdnters, and during those years the deer 
had all they could do to hold their own, but with one excep- 
tion the next nine winters were all comparatively mild, and 
the deer increased amazingly during all that time. 

The winter of 1892 and 1893, however, was long and hard, 
with three or four feet of snow and the destruction of deer was 
enormous. Nearly 2,000 deer were killed in the county during 
that winter, whereliy their numbers were greatly reduced, and 
again in the winter of 1896 and 1897 with a depth of snow greater 
than ever before known in the history of the country, they came 
near being annihilated. 

There are a few deer still to be found in Becker County, but 
it is doubtful if they are ever seen again as plentiful as they were 
in the years that are past. 

The following items are from the Detroit Record : 

The killing of deer this fall has amounted to slaughter. During the 
season several hundred saddles have been sold to Detroit dealers alone, 
and they continue to come in daily. Frank Harris bought thirty saddles 
of one man two weeks ago, and the first of this week a lot of eighty saddles 
were brought in. Hunters say that deer are more plentiful than ever before, 
and they attribute the fact to the mild winters we have had, and the absence 
of snow which enables the animals to escape the wolves which generally 
work destruction among them. — Detroit Record, December 13, 1889. 

November 14th, 1892. 

Deer are said to be unusually numerous in this section. Two men 
killed thirteen, recently, only a few miles from Detroit. 

Indians are said to be netting fish in Detroit lake. This should not 
be allowed for a day — either by white men or Indians. 

T. L. Gilbert and James Nunn were in town ^Monday, having come 
down from Pine Point with sixty saddles of venison, bought by Hoyle & 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 69 

Nunn of the hunters in that section. Last week the firm sent down thirty- 
three saddles, and all has been shipped through E. W. Davis, of this 
village. Mr. Gilbert says the hunters, mostly Indians, are meeting with 
good success this fall. From a camp in which there were three hunters 
they bought forty-eight saddles, last week. Mr. Gilbert tells of one Indian 
— John Buck-a-nah-gah, who recently shot seven deer and a bear in a 
single day's hunt. 

November 21st, 1892. 
Hoyle & Nunn sent in their last lot of venison for shipment last 
Tuesday — three large sleigh loads. The firm has bought and shipped three 
hundred and fifty carcasses, and taken altogether the deer hunting season 
has proven one of remarkable success. 

h.appy chippewas. 

more game than ever at white earth— indians contented. 

White Earth, Minnesota, 
Special, December 4th. 1892. 

Never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant has game been so 
abundant as this early winter. The Indians at White Earth who have 
moved from Mille Lacs, and they are many, are great hunters and have fairly 
reveled in their favorite pastime, which had been crowned with more than 
satisfactory results and corresponding profits. Your correspondent saw 
piles of venison stored at White Earth agency and passed many loads on 
their way to Detroit City for shipment. Celum Mattson has killed twenty 
deer this winter, Tyler Warren killed seven in two days, Charles Murray 
and Wa-bu-tus each killed a moose, and there is not an Indian hunter but 
has killed more or less. They sell the saddles and eat the rest, and it is 
evident from the number of new overcoats seen upon these Indians and 
general comfortable appearance of such a large number, and all before any 
government payment has been made, that they are making substantial 
investments, and not dissipating the products of the chase. 

December 12th, 1892. 

Probably the largest shipment of venison that was ever shipped from 
Detroit was sent to St. Paul, Monday, by E. W. Davis, commission mer- 
chant of this city. There were 800 saddles and full carcasses and as they 
were piled up in one pile awaiting shipment they presented a novel spectacle. 
We understand that this is only about one-half of what Mr. Davis has 
shipped this year. — Detroit Record. 

Mrs. West. 



The Antelope. 

The antelope is the most beautiful and fleet-footed animal 
of the prairies, and formerly inhabited the great plains and 
prairies of the West in immense numbers. No longer than 
forty years ago, there were undoubtedly more antelope between 



70 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

the western frontier and the Rocky Mountains than any other 
species of animaL 

It is a matter of conjecture how far East they ever ranged 
into Minnesota, l)ut it is certain that they occasionally strayed 
into Becker County. 

They are usually found in bands of from two or three to 
twenty or thirty, but were occasionally found alone. The follow- 
ing' description of the antelope from the pen of Washington 
Irving is more complete than any I can give : 

Their color is a light dun, slightly spotted with white, and they have 
small horns, much smaller than those of the deer which they never sheB. 
Nothing can surpass the delicate and elegant finish of their limbs, in which 
lightness and elasticity and strength are combined. Their habits are shy 
and capricious; they keep in the open plains, are quick to take alarm and 
bound away with a fleetness that defies pursuit. While they thus keep in 
the open plain and trust in their speed, they are safe, but they have a 
morbid curiosity that sometimes betrays them to their ruin. When they 
have run away for some distance and left their pursuer behind, they will 
suddenly stop and turn to gaze at the cause of their alarm. If the pursuit 
is not followed up, they will after a time yield to their inquisitive hankering 
and return to the place from whence they have been frightened. 

The hunter takes advantage of this well known curiosity and lays flat 
on the ground in the grass and ties a handkerchief to his ramrod, which he 
waves in the air. This has a fascinating efifect on the antelope, who gazes 
at the mysterious object for some time at a distance, then approaches 
timidly, pausing and reconnoitering with increasing curiosity, moving 
around the point of attraction in a circle but still drawing nearer, until 
within range of the deadly rifle, it falls a victim to its own curiosity. 

The following letter from the Hon. R. M. Probsfield. the 
oldest settler in the Red River Valley in Minnesota, will be of 
undoubted interest to the people of Becker County: 

MooRHEAD, November 13th, 1901. 

Hon. .\. H. Wilcox. 
Fr,\zee, Minn., 
Dear Sir: — 

In reply to your inquiry. I can say that I never saw or shot an ante- 
lope during all the time I have lived in the country east of the Red River, 
and only two or three times in Dakota. Antelopes have been shot and 
brought into Georgetown in the early sixties. I bought one that was 
shot at the South Branch of the Wild Rice River up on the highlands, 
but am not able to say whether it was killed in Becker County or in Clay 
County. William Moorhead, long a resident of Pembina County, N. D., 
who died a few years ago, saw two and shot one on the ground where 
Detroit (Becker County), is located now. That was in 1859, i860 or 1861. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 71 

I remember him telling about it, and know it was previous to the Indian 
outbreak in 1862. I consider all the antelope that were seen east of the 
Red River Valley stray ones; the same as the bufifalo seen during the sixties, 
but have no doubt that such stray ones roamed occasionally over the 
whole range of country east of the Red River as far as the big timber. 

Yours truly, 

R. M. ProbsfiEld. 

In the spring" of 1862, while ascending the ^Missouri River, 
and when a few miles above wdiere Bismarck, N. D., now is 
located, we sighted a band of antelope on a small prairie on the 
west bank of the river. The captain of the steamboat told us 
that if we would go to the upper deck with our rifles, he would 
pull the boat close to the shore, and give us a shot at the 
antelopes. Accordingly five or six of us ascended to the hurri- 
cane deck, cocking our rifles, while the steamboat was slowly 
and as silently as possible heading for the little prairie, which 
lay almost on a level with the upper deck of the boat where 
we stood. As we advanced, the antelope stopped grazing and all 
fell into line as is their habit and stood there gazing at the 
boat until we were within about one hundred yards, when 
their leader gave a loud "])ah,"" their signal for alarm. AA e all 
fired at once and three of them fell to the ground. A\'e (juickly 
landed and found two were dead, but the third was only crip- 
pled, and was trying to reach the woods, .\fter chasing him 
for some time, I caught him by one of the hind legs. He drag- 
ged me around for a while, when he was dispatched with a knife 
in the hands of one of the negro cooks belonging to the steam- 
boat. 

The antelope is considerably smaller and its legs are much 
shorter than those of the deer of Minnesota. An average sized 
antelope will weigh about one hundred pounds live weight. 
Their feet are unlike those of a deer and more like those of a 
sheep, not having any duclaws above their heels. 

As late as 1877, there were a good many antelope in Xorth 
Dakota within thirty or forty miles of Fargo. I found a band 
of a dozen or more, twelve miles north from AA'heatland in 
the vicinity of some springs in July of that year. 




14 



^7 

< 



A PioNKiiR History of Becker County. 73 



The Panther. 

The panther has been found in Becker County, although 
it was by no means common. I never came across a white man 
who had ever seen a hve one in the county, but have met a few 
Indians who had seen them. 

The panther is very near the color of the common red fox, 
only a little darker. Unlike the other great American forest 
cats, it has no spots or stripes, except, that the lips and the outer 
rim of the ear and the tip of the tail are blackish. 

Panthers have been found measuring seven feet, head and body, 
and the tail thirty inches, and they usually stand about two 
feet high and their average length from tip to tip is from six to 
seven feet. 

In the older states the panther has always been dreaded as a fierce and 
treacherous beast because of its alleged habit of springing upon travelers 
from branches of trees and rocky cliffs. When attacked it is a bold and 
courageous fighter, and the killing of one has always been regarded as a 
feat of skill and courage. 

The principal prey of the panther was the deer, but it seized any 
smaller animals that came in its way. The mode of hunting is by lying 
in wait for, or creeping up to within leaping distance and then springing 
upon it. A panther has been known to kill loo^ sheep in a single night. 

Their silence when hunting or when attacked is a notable characteristic, 
yet on rare occasions, usually on winter nights, they make the woods re- 
sound with terrifying screams. They figure largely in books of American 
travel and adventure. 

In October 1872, while surveving and appraising land for the 
Xorthern Pacific Railroad Company, I came across one of these 
animals in the Township of Fryberg in Otter Tail County. Al- 
though there were three of us in my party engaged in this work, 
we always worked singly and alone, rttnnirig our lines with a small 
ctMupass and counting our footsteps by way of measurement. On 
the morning of the 25th, I left our camp, which was on the banks 
of the Otter Tail River in section twenty-nine, and started north 
to make a survey and plat of that section. A fire had been run- 
ning in the woods, and I noticed among the ashes and burnt 
leaves the tracks of some large animal which resembled those 
of a Rocky Mountain lion. I had seen these animals and their 
tracks in Montana but having never heard of any in Minne- 



74 A PioNKHR History of Becker County. 

sota, nor any panthers either. T thoug-ht no more about it. Xot 
long' afterwarcLs. while running' a line in a westerly direction. I 
came to a lake which was about one hundred rods across, which 
I was obliged to go partly around in order to continue the 
course of my line on the opposite side. I started around the 
south shore of the lake but had not gone far before I started up 
a large animal wliich was lying down on the sandy beach of the 
lake. At first sight I took it to be a large timber wolf. He 
did not offer to run but squared himself around half standing, 
half sitting, and appeared to be quite indift'erent to ni}- presence. 
I always had a contempt for wolves, but as T had nothing to 
shoot with, and did not want a row. I took but little notice of 
him and made a half circle around through the woods and came 
to the lake shore about one hundred feet beyond him. I went 
on nearly a quarter mile, wondering what kind of an animal 
it could be, when I concluded to go back and stir him up and 
see what he was like and if he showed fight I would jump into 
the lake, and if he came after me, I would keep him off. drown 
him, or punch his eyes out with ni}- Jacob's-staff. When I came 
within about fifteen rods of the animal I started towards him 
on a run. yelling and shouting at the top of my voice, until 
within about four rods of him, when I saw he was not going to 
run, so I stopped. I then laid my Jacob's-staff" across a little 
leaning tree, to see what nice aim I could take if I only had 
a gun. T then commenced to throw stones at him, and the 
third stone hit him on a fc^re leg, when he jumped up about four 
feet in the air spitting like a cat. I then saw that it was a genuine 
panther which would measure seven or eight feet from tip to 
tip. He then lay or rather stood low on all fours, switching a 
long tail from side to side and assumed the attitude of a cat 
when about to spring upon a mouse. I then began to throw at 
him again, and soon hit him with another rock. He then gave 
a jump and shot through the air towards me with the speed 
of an arrow. About the same time, I shot through the air 
in the opposite direction, and landed in the lake where the 
water was about two feet deep. The panther made two leaps, 
covering a distance of at least twenty feet at each jump, but 
stopped short as soon as T struck the water, about twenty-five 
feet from where I stood, his eyes glaring like balls of fire and 
the hair on his back standing straight up on end. He stood there 
with his 1)ack hunq:ie(l up. and his tail this time erect, spitting and 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 75 

hissing- like a cat at l)ay and appeared to be preparing- for another 
attack, when I recollected that I had a big day's work to do. and 
that 1 might be caught out in the woods after dark if I did not 
soon get at it. so I waded along- the shore of the lake back- 
wards, keeping my eye on the panther for a distance of fifteen 
rods, when I went ashore and around the lake, vowing that I 
never would be caught out in the woods again without some- 
thing to shoot with. 

Three days afterwards I was at Pelican Rapids, and saw in 
Cowles" blacksmith shop the skin of an animal just like the one 
I had seen, which he had killed a week before. This was a 
female and measured seven feet from the end of the nose to the 
tip of the tail, and was undoubtedly the mate to the one I 
had seen. 

A panther was killed a few miles north of Pine Point in the 
vear 1897 by a Chippewa Indian, a son of North-Wind. He shot 
it in the top of a tree. Another one was killed by an Indian 
in the township of Runeberg, in the year 1882. that measured 
seven feet two inches from tip to tip. 

The following account of an adventure with four panthers is 
given to me by J\Ir. W. F. Broadhead, who is now an attorney 
at Clayton, the county seat of St. Louis County, Missouri. Air. 
Broadhead is a brother of James O. Broadhead, who was provost 
marshal of St. Louis during the civil war, and who was Cleve- 
land's foreign minister to Switzerland. Our hero studied law 
under Governor Bates, wdio was Lincoln's attorney general, 
and he in turn was for several years the teacher of Gen. John 
R. Bates, the present lieutenant general of the LInited States army. 
Mr. Broadhead worked for me in the gold mines during the 
early part of the summer of 1864, and left on the first of 
August to open up a cattle ranch at the head of Crow^ Creek, 
about twenty miles southeast from wdiere Helena, Montana, now 
stands. 

Mr. Broadhead says : 

"About the latter part of October, 1864, I took Smith, one of the team- 
sters, and taking along the necessary horses we ascended to the head of 
a dry gulch which had its source on the southwest side of the Crow 
Mountain, or "Old Baldy" as it is now called and went into camp. After 
hunting and prospecting a few days, I one day set out alone and afoot to 
go up the southwest side of the mountain as far as I could in a day's 



76 A PlONEKR HiSTlRV OF BECKER CoUNTY. 

tramp. Wlien passing around the bald open side of the mountain, I came 
to the tracks of four panthers in the Hght snow, one very large, and three 
smaller tracks, a female and her family. Following the trail I came to a 
place where there were some scattering pines here and there. The trees 
were small, their lower limbs reaching the ground in places and the snow 
had partially melted away from under them. At this place I noticed that 
the cubs seemed from their tracks to have been playing around in different 
directions, rendering it difficult to follow them. I had lost the trail of the 
larger animal and stopped to consider my course. Just then I heard one 
of the young panthers squall and looking saw one of them running in the 
direction of some rocky clifTs to my right. The cub was nearly full 
grown. 

I started after it, but was halted by a deep loud roar behind me and 
turning saw the old mother under the low spreading limbs of a pine not 
more than twenty-five feet away, where she had been couched down on the 
tawny pine needles under the tree. She was lying or rather standing 
low on her feet, her body almost touching the ground, her tail waving from 
side to side ready to spring and seemed almost in the act of springing 
towards me. To act instantly was my only safety. As I saw her I 
stooped and cocked my rifle, and rested it upon my knee as was my habit, 
aimed it at her and pulled the trigger, but, the hammer failed to fall. It 
was a walnut stock and had become wood-bound from the dampness. I 
instantly again set the trigger and pulled just as she arose to spring. This 
time there was no failure and she sank down and died in a moment. I had 
put a minnie slug running seventeen to the pound into her throat and it 
had passed through almost the entire length of her body. She measured 
nine and one-half feet from tip to tip. I killed two of the cubs with my 
navy revolver, and securing the skins returned to camp. It was a danger- 
ous moment but was so speedily over I scarcely realized it. 

W. F. Bro.xdhE.ad. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



The Ljmx. 

The lynx is from thirty to thirty-six inches in length, head 
and body, and the tail about five inches. The color is a grizzly 
or grayish brown, with the ear tips and end of the tail black 
and the belly white. 

The habits of the lynx are the same as those of the forest 
cats, generally, and their depredations upon the farmer's poultry 
yard, together with the fear inspired by their screams at night 
and the value of their pelts have led to their extermination in 
the old settlements. They are persistent mousers, and pro1)a- 
bly more than repay their occasional theft by destroying great 
numbers of these pests. Chiefly nocturnal in their habits, they 
sleep by day in hollow trees and caverns, and in such places, on 
a bed of dried grass they bring forth their kittens, which the 
mother will defend with a ferocity that but few animals can 
withstand. 

The lynx is quite common in Becker County. I never saw 
but one and he disappeared so quickly among the trees that I 
did not get a very good look at him. 

D. O. Jarvis caught seven during the winter of 1883 and 1884, 
on the east side of Height of Land Lake. Carl Oelfke of that 
township says he has caught 35 since he first came to Becker 
County. 

FISHERMAN'S DI\E SAVES LIFE. 

Animal Attacks Him and He Escapes by Leaping Into the River. 

Pioneer Press Northwest Special Service. 

Superior. Wis., June 27th, 1906. 

Edward Ruquist, who has just returned from a fishing trip near Deham, 
reports a harrowing tale of an encounter with a female lynx, in which he 
came out victorious, but not until he had received several painful scratches 
from the enraged animal's claws. 

Ruquist says he saw a lynx kitten while fishing along the bank of a 
stream and immediately gave chase. The little animal took refuge in a 
hole and Ruquist started to dig it out. While he was thus engaged the 
mother of the kitten stealthily approached from behind him, and without 
warning leaped onto his back, sinking her claws deep into his flesh. 

Ruquist yelled lustily for help, but realizing that he was alone, and 
that he must do something to escape the furious attack of the maddened 
animal or else be killed, he leaped from the high bank on which he was 



A PioxKn;R History of Becker County. 79 

standing and plnnged headforemost into tiie water. The lynx is not an 
aniphibions animal and dislikes water as much as does a house cat. 
Accordingly it released its hold on Ruquist's back and made its way to 
shore, where it confined its attention to its yelling kitten. 

Meanwhile Ruquist's cries attracted the attention of his companion, 
who was some distance away, and the latter coming up shot the mother 
with a rifle. They did not succeed m capturing the kitten, however. 



The Wild Cat. 



Tlie wild cat was formerl}- ver}' common in Becker Count}', 
and is still to be found in the timber districts. The wild cat 
is usually two feet in lent^-tli includino- the tail which is very 
short, from which circumstance it is frequently called the bob 
cat. I have seen several wild cats in captivity, and there was 
considerable variation in their appearance, but they all bore a 
general resemblance to a luonstrous house cat except in color 
and the fact of their tail being- bobbed off short. 

As nearlv evervbod\' knows they are providecl with long, 
sharp claws, are expert climbers, and in a fight at close ([uarters 
are dangerous cutomers to encounter, by a man or a dog. 

John Stearns of Cotton Lake caught a wild cat in P'rie Town- 
ship in the winter of 1904 or 1905, which was so large that some 
of his neighors called it a catamount. 

I never saw but one wild one alive, and it was dift"erent in 
its general appearance, in color and in size from any I have 
seen in captivity before or since. In July 1878, I was engaged 
in examining Xorthern Pacific Railroad land about fifteen miles 
northwest from Bismarck, X. 1)., and a mile or two east of the 
Missouri River. \\'hile running a line north through Section 3, 
Township 140, Range 81, I came to a very deep ravine, tbe bed of 
whicb was at least fifty feet below the level of the prairie. The 
sides of the ravine v, ere very steep, in some places nearl\- i)er- 
pendicular, and in a ravine was a dense growth of oak timl:)er. 
On reaching the bottom of the ravine, I came to a pool of clear, 
cold spring water, ten or twelve feet long and a yard wide. At 
the upper end of the pool lay what I took to be a rock, or a 
stick of wood, and without taking any special notice of it I pro- 
ceeded to unbuckle mv belt, and after taking oft' my tin cup 
and laying my belt, and pistol, which I carried on my belt. 



8o A PioxiiiiR History of Bkcker County. 

down on a loo^ nearby, I stooped down to dip up a cup of 
water. Abont this time the object at the other end of the pool 
gave a jnmp in my direction, hissing and spitting hke a cat, 
and was plainly disposed to resent my intrusion to its drinking 
place. It was an enormous wild cat, fully twice as large as any 
wild cat I had ever seen in captivity. Its head and body would 
measure three feet at least. I stepped back and picked up my 
pistol and turned to shot at the animal, but the moment it 
caught sight of the weapon it gave a jump in among the trees, 
and scrambling up the side of the blufif, disappeared from view. 
j\Ir. S. F. Sivertson, a successful trapper, who lives on Section 
6 of Todd Lake Township once dug a wild cat out of a hole 
in the ground on Section 5 of that township. He thought he was 
digging out a skunk, when he unexpectedly came to the wild cat 
which he killed with a club. 



The Gray, or Timber Wolf. 

The worst nuisance of any four-footed beast in Becker Coun- 
ty is the wolf. There are two species, the gray or timber wolf, and 
the prairie wolf, or coyote, and one kind is about as bad as the 
other. 

The timber wolf is confined chiefly to the forest, and lives 
mostly on rabbits and other small animals, but sometimes 
they combine and run down deer and occasionally make sad 
havoc with sheep, pigs, calves and other domestic animals. They 
are cannibals of the worst type, and timber wolves will not only 
devour prairie wolves, but will even eat up their own species. 
I once put out some strychnine in the evening and went out 
the next morning to see what the result was, and while yet some 
distance away I saw a big timber wolf standing around, ap- 
parently licking his chops wdth a self satisfied look, so I con- 
cluded that my poison was of no account, but upon nearer ap- 
proach the wolf fled, and I found that I had poisoned a prairie 
wolf, and the big fellow had devoured every part of him but his 
head, tail, and a few of the larger bones. 1 have also used the 
flesh of timber wolves for bait, and have caught other timber 
wolves with it. 

I have seen wolves run down and devour deer, and even 
antelope, the most swift-footed aniiual of the prairie. They 



A I'loxKER History of Becker County. 8i 

o^enerally choose a small prairie, like the prairie north of Detroit, 
or the Frazee Prairie, but sometimes attack them in the woods 
or t)n the o]:)en prairie. When a deer is sighted they will scatter 
away and skulk around the edge of the prairie, and hide in the 
brush or tall grass, or in the edge of the woods a quarter of a 
mile or so apart, until they have the game partly or entirely 
encircled. A peculiarity of the deer is that when they are close- 
ly pursued they will not leave the locality altogether, but will 
circle back after a while to their old grounds. W'hen all are 
properly located some one of the wolves will start the chase by 
giving a few unearthly howls, and start for the deer. This wolf 
will chase the deer for perhaps twenty minutes, during which 
time the deer has gained slightly on the wolf. When this wolf 
is tired out another wolf will take his place, and probably make 
about an even race with the deer, and when he is tired out a 
third will take his place and by the time he is tired the deer 
will be pretty tired himself, and in a short time the whole pack 
will join in and run the deer to earth, and devour him before the 
breath is fairly out of his body. That is the way they hunt deer 
and antelope in an unsettled country. 

In the winter of 1 880-81, I was camped near Shell River, in 
the eastern part of Becker County, when a gang of wolves ran 
down and killed a deer but a few rods from our tent. The 
snow was all tramped down and stained with blood for acres 
around, and this with the head and a few of the larger bones was 
all there was left to tell the tale. 

There is but little difference between the number of wolves 
of the two kinds now and at the time of the first settlement of 
the county, although there has been an average of about fifty 
killed every year. In 1878 I was treasurer of the county and 
paid bounties on just seventy-five wolves, about evenly divided 
between the two kinds. 

They have probably been more plentiful in the northeast 
part of Grand Park Township for the last few years than in any 
other part of the county. Several times I have had lumber 
camps in that vicinity in the winter, and there would seldom 
be a night all winter long but what they would hold a concert 
in our vicinity. ]\Iany a night I have camped out in the fall 
of the vear when looking after pine timber, in that neighbor- 
hood and seldom a night without being serenaded by wolves. 
Strange as it mav seem, a concert held bv a half dozen live wolves 



82 A PioxEEK History of Becker County. 

around a lonely camp-fire in the woods is the most interesting 
and enlivening music I have ever listened to. A covote begins 
his howl with a bark, the same as a fox or a dog only much 
faster than a dog, and ends with a howl, whereas a timber wolf 
starts in on a howl without any prelude, beginning on a low kev 
and ending high, displaying a wonderful range of voice, and 
probably the next howl will begin high and end low, thus alter- 
nating with a low and high beginning as long as they keep on 
howling I once was traveling on a lonely trail through the 
forest, all alone, in the dead of winter, and in the afternoon 
came to where three wolves had entered the trail ahead of me, 
and I followed their tracks all the afternoon, and they were 
still ahead when I camped for the night. My camp was in a 
thicket of fir balsam trees, by a small stream of water at the 
foot of a big hill. It was one of the coldest nights on record, 
with about a foot of snow. Soon after dark I had a fire kindled, 
and was frying some pork and venison for supper when I heard 
a sniffing across the creek followed by a combination of howls 
there were my three wolves, half sitting, half standing, about 
four rods away. It was a grand and interesting picture, those 
three large, plump and vigorous animals, engaged in the full 
display of their vocal powers. They looked so sleek and well 
fed that I was not afraid of them in the least. I had no fire-arms 
and had even broken the handle out of my axe, so for lack 
of any other amusement I began throwing fire brands at the 
wolves. They were now thoroughly frightened, and l)egan to 
scamper away among the trees as fast as their legs could carry 
them. It was not more than half an hour, however, before they 
came back, and resumed their former ixisitions Init kept very 
cjuiet after that, and as I had no more firebrands to spare I let 
them alone, and they were still there when I went to bed, and as' 
I soon fell asleep I never knew what became of them. 

In the winter of 1862-63 I killed fifty-two wolves, and twelve 
the next winter, but that was not in Becker County. Some of 
them I shot, some I trapped and some I poisoned. They were 
about half prairie wolves and half timber wolves. Some of them 
were of enormous size, and of all shades of color from nearly 
black to white. One of them, alxnit the largest of all, was entire- 
ly wdiite. It is much easier to shoot or trap a wolf than it is 
to poison one, especially after a few have l)een poisoned, as the 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 83 

hunters of Becker County well know, but there is once in a 
while an exception. I once fixed up a strong dose of strychnine 
and at night put it out a few rods from my camp. Nothing 
came to it that night, but the next morning after I was up, and 
sitting in plain sight, a wolf came up. and after making about 
three circles around the bait approaching a little nearer all the 
time finally grabbed a ])iece of meat and swallowed it. He 
then went through about the same performance as before and 
carried another piece a short distance and swallowed it also. 
This was repeated the fourth time when he took a piece and 
started away, and ran into a thicket of willows a few rods 
ofl:'. I took my rifie and followed into the thicket to see what 
became of him. He had gone through to an opening on the 
other side and was going through all sorts of motions, walking 
stiff-legged, standing on his hind feet, turning summersaults, 
and finally gave a jump into the air and fell dead to the ground. 
It was not more than ten minutes from the time he ate the first 
mouthful until he was dead. 

On another occasion I fastened a piece of meat on the pan 
of my wolf trap without thinking what the result might be, and 
the next morning found the trap gone. There was a light 
snow on the ground, and the tracks of a large wolf led away from 
the place, but there was no trace of the trap along his trail, 
but I could see where the chain had dragged through the snow. 
After following the trail for a mile or so I came to where the 
wolf was lying down behind a big pine tree. He jumped up 
to run, but stepped on the chain and turned a summersault, and 
then went on about as fast as though he had no trap about him. 
From what I could see of the trap I thought he was carrying it 
in his mouth. I had no gun to shoot him with and he was soon 
out of sight. I now followed his tracks until I came to where he 
had undertaken to cross a creek and had broken through the 
ice. The weight of the trap was keeping his head under water, 
but I soon pulled him out and found that the trap had him by 
the end of the nose, by a good strong hold just back of the 
tushes. After a few minutes of good hard blowing, and shaking 
himself a couple of times, he appeared to be pretty well restored 
to life, but thoroughly cowed down, and as he did not show any 
disposition to fight, I thought I would try and lead him home to 
camp and show him to my three partners. I cut a good, stout 
choke-cherrv club and started off. He led all right for a short 



84 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

distance, when all at once he gave a spring- and with his fore- 
paws tore a leg nearly off my old pants, and scratched my leg 
severely. Concluding that he was entirely too frisky for a pet 
I laid him out with my choke-cherry club. 

At another time I was camped near a small stream, with five 

companions, in the month of November, 1863. While we were 

eating breakfast one morning a wolf came up and commenced 

eating the refuse of the deer we had killed the night before about 

one hundred yards from where we were sitting. One of my 

companions seized his rifle and shot the wolf as we supposed 

dead in his tracks. I had a knife in my hands at the time, and 

rushed out to skin the wolf, and as I supposed he was already 

dead went without taking my gvui. As I came up to him he 

got up and ran oft' over the hills and away from the direction 

of the camp. I followed him for about three hundred yards 

and had nearly overtaken him, when he turned around and 

took after me. One shoulder was broken, but otherwise he was 

not badly hurt, so it was just about an even race between us. 

After chasing me about fifty yards, during which time the wolf 

was onlv a few feet from my heels, I came to the thigh bone 

of a buffalo which I picked up and threw at the wolf with 

both hands, and as it whirled the big joint at the end hit him 

between the eyes, which knocked him down, and before he 

could recover himself I cut his throat. In November, 1862, I 

was traveling on horseback through what is now a part of the 

State of Montana, near where the city of Great Falls now stands, 

when my attention was attracted by some fresh earth being 

thrown out of a hole in the ground by some animal that could 

not be seen, as it was below the surface, whatever it was. 1 

soon discovered a large grey wolf crouched down behind a 

small mound of earth, with his attention closely riveted to the 

spot where the earth was flying out of the hole, about two 

rods from it. I could have easily shot the wolf, for he was 

not more than four rods away. I sat on my horse and watched 

the proceeding for five minutes or more, when all at once a 

fox emerged from the hole with a prairie dog in his mouth 

and started off across the prairie. The dog was squealing and 

kicking at a lively rate. The fox had hot gone far, however. 

before the wolf started after him with a howl, and after going 

a few jumps caught up with the fox and took the prairie dog 

awav from him and ]:)roceeded to devour it himself. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 85 

A few years ago L. C. McKinstry proceeded to stock his 
farm, a mile south of Audubon, with sheep. The wolves, however, 
caused him no end of trouble, and as he is a man of many recourses 
he concluded to head off the wolves by taking the sheep over to a large 
island in Little Cormorant Lake, on the line between Audubon and 
Lake Eunice. This island contains 160 acres or more, and if I re- 
member rightly is a quarter of a mile from the mainland in the 
narrowest place. He expected of course the wolves would cross 
over when the lake was frozen but when the ice was gone in the 
spring he fancied his troubles were over and commenced to sleep as 
only a man can sleep who is thoroughly honest and has gained an 
important victory over his enemies. His peace of mind, however, was 
(loomed to be of short duration, for going on over to salt his sheep 
in the spring he found that the wolves had been there ahead of him, 
and that the island was strewn with wool and bones and that 
a large quantity of mutton had disappeared. He then proceeded to 
enclose his pasture at home with woven wire netting, but the wolves 
were not to be defeated by any such arrangement, for they soon 
commenced to dig under this fence and crawl through into the 
pasture. 

The following is from the Becker Co. Journal of Jan. 13th. 1899. 
and transpired in Cuba Township : 

Last Thursday morning as Oscar and Peter Olson were coming to 
school they saw a wolf in Lewie Holmes' field, just south of the school 
house. Mr. Wolf immediately showed fight and the boys valiantly fought 
him with stones and chunks of frozen mud. 0!e Raaen, who had spent 
the night at Mr. Olson's, and who was with the boys, threw a chunk of 
mud that knocked the wolf over. Then Oscar rushed up and hurled a 
huge piece of frozen mud on his head which killed him. The boys carried 
the wolf to Mr. Olson's, and Friday Oscar took the hide to Detroit to 
receive the bounty. The boys are quite proud of their capture, as well 
they may be. 



The Prairie Wolf or Coyote. 

The prairie wolf so much resembles the timber wolf in 
appearance and general character that in most instances a de- 
scription of the one will render a lengthy description of the 
<^ther unnecessary. The coyote is but a trifle more than half as 
large as the timber wolf, and is a shade lighter in color. The 
timber wolf and coyote were about equal in point of numbers 



86 A PioxKKR History of Becker County. 

when this country l)e.Li"an to settle np. l)ut the tiniljer woh^es 
have l)ecome a Httle fewer, \vhile the coyotes have not only 
held their own. but have positix'ely increased durint;' the last 
twenty years. In the early days a coyote would occasionally 
swallow a tempting- morsel of meat that had been poisoned, but 
after seeing a few of their companions go through the terrible 
spasmodic ordeal of strychnine poisoning they became exceed- 
ingly shy, and no matter how alluring the bait, it is now almost 
impossible to get one of them to touch it. I think it is easier 
to either poison or trap a timber wolf than a coyote. 

The pelts of both species of wolves are in fair demand for 
robes and overcoats. The skin of the timber wolf is much the 
strongest, but the fur of the coyote is the softest, and the skin being 
thin and light it makes a very comfortable robe. I (Mice made 
a robe of twelve coyote skins, all of which I killed myself and 
tanned the skins. I had nothing to line it with, and the robe 
did not weigh four pounds. I have slept out of doors many a 
time with nothing over me l)ut that robe and a single blanket, 
in the dead of winter, with the thermometer 40'^ below zero 
and always slept comfortably. 1 had a buffalo robe to spread 
on the snow, and a fur cap on ni}- head, Init no tent or shelter 
of any kind. It is surprising how much warmth there is in one 
of these fur robes. I have slept out of doors, and in tents under 
just such conditions as those related above, wdth seven or eight 
blankets and quilts over me, and found it impossible to sleep 
as warm, as under a single robe. 

The coyote has some wavs and habits peculiar to itself, that 
are a little curious. I once was traveling through a marsh^' 
meadow north of Audubon, wdiere the grass and the rushes were 
three or four feet high, when I saw something jumping u]) and 
down in the grass that I took to be a sandhill crane, or a wild 
goose with a broken wing. I crawled through the grass towards 
the object, which I observed was still l)obbing up and down, 
until within three of four rods of it, wdien I saw it was a coyote, 
tr}-ing to jump high enough above the grass to get a good look 
at me. I was now where I could get a good look at the coyote, 
who kept up his jumping until I arose and gave him a chance 
for a good look which a]:)peared to satify him, and he started 
off on a run. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 87 



The Red Fox. 

AMien Becker County began to be settled up foxes were 
very numerous, much more so than at the present time. Xot 
onlv the common red foxes were plentiful, l^ut an occasional 
cross fox, and the silver gray and black foxes have been seen or 
caught in the county. 

In the winter of 1870-71, the woods in the vicinity of the 
Otter Tail River were alive with red foxes. Their tracks were 
to be seen everywdiere. Rabbits were not as numerous as now 
anywhere in the country, as they were kept thinned out by the 
foxes. They were also the chief enemy of the partridge, de- 
stroying them and their eggs in great numbers. When the 
country began to settle up, the foxes began to grow less, falling 
easy victims to poison. They were suspicious and cunning about 
traps, but strychnine has been their destruction. I have known 
them to dig u]^ steel traps that were neatly covered with chaff 
or with snow, and turn them over, and spring them from the 
wrong side, and then cut up all kinds of unmentionable tricks 
with the trap, steal the bait and depart for parts unknown. 
The bark of a fox is much like that of a dog, only their voices 
are finer and they bark much faster. 

They burrow in the ground, but wdiether they dig their own 
burrows or not I cannot say. There were formerly so many 
badger dens in the country that it should not have been nec- 
essary for them to go to that trouble. They are very prolific 
breeders, nine voung pups being al)Out the average size of a fox 
family. 

In 1876, when examining land for the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road Company, I came to a ravine on the prairie, one afternoon, 
and my attention was attracted to what I at first took to be a 
lot of stakes driven in the ground on the opposite side of the 
ravine, all in a bunch. It looked for all the world like a bunch 
of nine-pins set up in a bowling alley, all ready to be knocked 
down. Soon however, one of them started on a run over the 
hill and I saw it was a fox, the mother of the litter. I counted 
those that remained, as they stood upright, and there were nine : 
and as I started in their direction they all scrambled into a hole 
in the side of the hill. As it looked like easy digging, and was 



88 ■ A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

only a mile from our camp, I went back about sundown with 
two men and a spade to see if we could get any of the foxes. 
As we came in sight, the ten foxes were standing up on their 
posteriors, by the hole the same as before, and the old mother 
again scampered off over the hill and the other nine ran into 
the ground. We then began to dig with our spade, and after 
working into the hill, three or four feet, came to a fox's tail. 
I had taken the precaution to take along a pair of buckskin 
mittens that were in the camp, and after putting on a mitten, 
I took the fox by the tail, and then slipped my other hand up 
along his back, and got him by the neck and took him out. As 
it was about the 20th of July, the fox was nearly full grown. 
We then tied his legs together and laid him down on the grass. 
As soon as ovir backs were turned, he hobbled off up the hill 
and ran into another hole that we had not seen. I soon how- 
ever pulled out another fox, but he fooled us the same way, 
and made his escape. The third one we hobbled and put in a 
gunny sack and he stayed with us. In this way I took out the 
whole nine, but we did not know what to do with them after we 
had dug them out. If I took them to camp in the gunny sack, 
thev would smother, as the weather was intensely hot, so we 
let them all go but three, and started for camp with one each, 
in our hands. I had the spade to carry, and the mosquitoes 
w^ere biting us by the thousand. I had a spade in one hand, a 
fox in the other, and did not have a single hand to fight the 
mosc|uitoes with, and as the spade was worth more than the 
fox, I let the fox go. We boxed up the other two foxes, and 
I afterwards took them home to Detroit ; but soon became tired 
of them and gave them to W. F. Ball. They both afterwards 
got away and one of them lived for a year or so under what 
is now the Northern Pacific Railroad section house in the east 
part of the town. The house was then unoccupied, and the fox 
was frequently seen around there with a strap around his neck. 
At another time^ I found where some foxes had taken pos- 
session of a section corner that consisted of a big mound, that 
the surveyors had evidently tried to see how big they could 
make. My attention was attracted to the section corner stake 
that had been pulled down into the mound, and only the end 
v/as sticking out on a good deal of a slant. I took out the 
stake, and ran it into a hole in the side of the mound, and 
out popped a fox, almost full grown, and away he went across 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 89 

the prairie. When a fox is .suddenly started up in that way. 
it tries its best to run awa}- from you, and look around at the 
same time, which makes it look as if it was running sideways. 
I then poked out another, and giving him a gentle kick behind, 
away he went sideways over the prairie. In this way I scared 
seven foxes otit of that mound. 

That same year 1876, late in August, when running a line 
all by myself, I took sight with my compass on a brown looking 
object on the prairie about fifty rods ahead, exactly in line. As 
I approached it I saw it was an animal of some kind, and as 
it did not move I supposed it was dead. When within a few 
steps, I saw it was a large red fox, stretched out at full length 
on the grass, fast asleep. I kept on silently until within a yard 
of the fox, and could easily have struck him with my Jacob 
stafif, but it seemed too much like murder to take advantage 
of his slumbers. In another second, however, he bounded into 
the air like a rubber football, and away he ran sideways across 
the prairies looking backward to see what I was doing. 

The cross fox is said to be a cross between the red and 
silver grey fox and is marked sometimes strongly, and some- 
times indistinctly with a dark cross on the back and shoulders. 
In 1888. a fine large cross fox had a den on Section 22 in Erie, 
about half a mile west of the county bridge, w'here John Shoen- 
berger now lives. I saw this fox several times and he was a beautv. 




S1L\KR GRAY FOX. 



A Pioneer HrsToRv or Becker County. 91 



The Silver Grey Fox. 

The silver grey fox is much rarer and is a dark colored fox 
with the hairs tipped with a light silvery color. His tail is black 
with a white tip. 

The silver grey fox is (iccasionall}- found in this county, but 
like the black fox it was but seldom met with, not only in Becker 
County but in all parts of the country. I never saw a live one 
in this county, and never saw a wild one anywhere. 

The animals seen in this picture I found up on the north shore 
of Lake Superior, near Port Arthur, in a state of captivity, and 
although they were a year and a half old, and were captured 
when quite young, they were still very wild. Xotwithstanding 
they had a comfortable board kennel to live in, as shown in 
the picture, they had honeycombed the ground with their dens 
and burrows, as far as the length of their chains would permit. 
Thev were so wild they would not allow the photographer to 
come near enough to take a picture of sufficient size to do them 
justice, and thev were much finer and better looking animals 
than what they are here represented to be. 

The photographer in a letter says: "I could not go any closer 
for fear they Avould break the chain. They seemed to think the 
camera had come for them and jumped around so that I had to 
go aw a}' for awhile." 

Manv vears ago, I think it was: in the winter of 1874 and 75, 
Gabriel Halverson, who was then liAdng on his homestead in 
Section 21 of Richwood Township, had the misfortune to lose 
an (IX. and a night or two afterwards as wolves and foxes were 
quite numerous in the neighborhood, he set a steel tra]) near 
the dead ox, and caught a siher grey fox, the skin of which 
was worth more than the ox when alive. 

The following is from the Audubon Journal of March 13th, 

1875- 

A silver grey fox was seen running- across the prairie nortli of town 
on last Monday. A Norwegian who had noticed him. started in pursuit 
with several dogs, but sly Rrynar 1 took to the woods and escaped. A 
silver grey fox skin is worth between thirty and forty dollars any day and 
the animal is therefore much hunted and rarely found. 




BLACK FOX. 



A PioxKKR History of Bkcker Counts'. 93 



Black Fox. 

The black fox differs from the silver grey in being' of a darker 
color, some of them being almost entirely black. The end of their 
tail, however, is tipped with white. The black fox is very rare. 

The following is from the Detroit Record of December 5th, 1892: 

Wm. Uran came down from White Earth Monday with a load of 
venison. He says that he shot a black fox near Twin Lakes one day last 
week. A black fox is a rare animal and there never was but one or two 

killed in this country. It is said that the liide is worth $200. 

George A. Morison, of White Earth, one of the veteran fur 
traders of the Northwest, has this to say with reference to the 
foxes of Becker County. 

Red foxes were quite abundant, and now and then a few cross foxes, 
some silver greys and an occasional black fox would be caught. The latter 
were so scarce that I am led to believe they were stray visitors from the 
far north — both the black and the silver grey being separate species, but 
the cross is a mixture of the red and silver grey. Some three years ago, 
a black fox was reported seen in 143-41 and seemed to be a regular resident 
of that township. Many tried to get him, but their failure to do so would 
seem to justify the old belief of the Indians, that the black fox is a 
Monedo, or devil, and is ten times "cuter" than his red cousin. 



The Grizzly Bear. 

1 (lid not sup]X)se there had ever l)een a grizzly bear in Minne- 
sota, and especially in Becker County, but in reading Alexander 
I fenry's journal I can:e across the following : 

"Oct. 17th, 1800 — During my absence, my hunter killed a large 
grizzly bear, about a mile from the fort. Grizzly bears are not very 
numerous along Red River, but are quite plentiful farther west along 
the Sheyenne River."* 

Peter Parker, a Pine Point Indian, who has a clear head and a 
remarkably good memory says, there was a large grizzly bear killed 
in the Smoky Hills a little south of the Shell River in what is now 
the town of Carsonville, in the fall of 1875. It was killed by an 
Indian by the name of Wah-yah-ge-gah-bow, who sold the skin to 
John Beaulieu. 

X^orth-wind, an old Indian, now living at Pine Point, relates 
to me that in the spring of 188 1 he killed an immense grizzly 

*This bear was killed a little north of where Grand Forks now stands. 



94 A PioNEKK History of liKCKER County. 

bear a few miles south of Lake Itasca, which would make the 
locatiou about on Section lo of Savannah Township, in Becker 
County. The snow was ver\- deep that spring and stayed on the 
ground until late in April, in traveling through the woods on 
snowshoes, he came to a large hole in the ground four or five 
feet in diameter. Almost simultaneousl\- with the discovery 
of the hole he heard a loud noise like the chattering of teeth, 
accompanied by a noise between a howl and a growl, which he 
at once recognized as cc^ning from some member of the bear 
famih'. lie was armed with a (l()uhle-l)arreled sh(Ugun loadetl 
with small shot but he instantly sli])ped a bullet into each barrel, 
which he had no sooner done than a bear of monstrous size, 
and of a grizzl\- grey color emerged from the hole. As soon as 
she came in sight he fired both barrels at her head but instead 
■of killing her outright as he expected, both balls glanced from 
her skull without entering the brain. The shots, however, had 
the efifect of stunning the bear for a minute, after which she 
started for the hunter, but owing to the depth of the snow 
and its soft condition, and the dazed condition of the bear, he 
soon ran away from her. and returning the next da}' with three 
other Indians, and a Winchester rifie or two, they tracked the 
bear into a tamarack swamp, where they found her still alive 
but considerably bewildered, where they soon killed her. 

Xorth-Wind said she was as large as an ordinary cow and 
would weigh at least 700 pounds. On returning to the den they 
found three culxs onlv a few days old, of the same grizzly gray 
color as their mother, which they killed and brought along with 
them. 

Cxrizzly bears have l)een killed in Calift)rnia weighing as high as 
1,800 pounds. 

In the spring of 1S63, with eight companions, I was just 
beginning mining operations on the Prickly Pear Creek, in 
Montana, a few miles from where the city of Helena now stands, 
although there were no wdiite people at that time living within 
sixty miles of us. One evening in April while getting our sup- 
pers a large grizzly bear came up within fifty feet of where 
we were camped, raised himself on his hind legs and began 
snififing the air, attracted no doubt by the savory odor of the 
venison that we were frying. He was a giant in proportions, 
and looking back from the present time, through a lapse of forty- 
two vears it seems as thou2"h he stood ten feet tall. (Jne of our 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 95 

men l)y the name of Graves who happened to have his rifle 
near at hand, fired at the bear, hitting him just under the eye. 
Tlie l)ear dropped to the ground apparently dead, and we gath- 
ered around him with our knives, waiting for him to give his 
farewell kick, when we expected to have the satisfaction of 
taking off his hide. I was going to shoot him again but old 
man W'ithrow objected, saying I would spoil his skin. In the 
meantime a stream of blood as large as my finger was spurting 
out of the bullet hole under his eye. Finally just as we were 
al)out to turn him up on his back to commence skinning, he 
flopped himself over onto his feet as nimble as a cat, and started 
oft' down the creek on a run. We fired several shots at him 
as he ran but to no purpose. We followed him down the creek 
for three miles, when he ran into a patch of low willow brush, 
and as it was then dark we gave up the chase. It is extremely 
dangerous to follow a grizzly bear into the brush. You may be 
able to see their trail for quite a distance ahead, when all at 
once they will pounce upon yoit from the side, having gone 
around and lain down alongside of where they had passed a 
few minutes before. 

The next October this same man Graves had a narrow es- 
cape from this same bear, in this same patch of brush. He 
was trailing the bear when all at once it came upon him from 
the side, so suddenly that he barely had time to shoot, and 
although he was hardly an arm's length away he missed the 
bear altogether. Graves then struck the bear over the head 
with the butt of his gun which knocked him down, but' 
shivered the stock to pieces. He then seized the barrel of his 
gun and struck him over the small of the back, which knocked 
him down the second time but he was on his feet again in an 
instant. He knocked him down in this way six or seven times, 
by which time Graves was nearly exhausted, and he began to 
feel that he must soon give up the fight, when it appears that 
the bear was seized with the same kind of feelings, for all at 
once he turned and ran, leaving Graves master of the field. 
Graves came back to our camp without any coat, hat, knife or 
gun, but with the print of four great claws across his cheek. 
Two of our men went back with him and they killed the bear. 
The scar where Graves had shot him the spring before was 
plainly visible. This bear, head and body included, measured 



96 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

more than eight feet in length, and weighed 850 pounds. He 
was killed only a few rods from where the Northern Pacific pas- 
senger depot at East Helena now stands. 



The Black Bear. 



The Black Bear is still quite common in Becker County, 
nearly as much so as when the county was first settled. This 
bear is quite a formidable animal, but is seldom known to attack 
human beings except when at bay, or wounded, or in defense 
of its young. There are exceptions, however, an instance of which 
I will relate further on. 

The habits of the black bear are well known. They generally 
live in the ground in the winter and always hibernate in this 
latitude, coming out slick and fat in the spring. Their dens are 
sometimes nothing more than a mass of tree tops and brush, 
caused by some windfall, and I have known an instance where 
a surveyor's axeman fell down through the brush upon a family 
of bears in the dead of winter. 

The natural food of bears is berries, fruit and soft shelled 
nuts, such as acorns and hazel nuts, and roots, of which the 
wild artichoke is the favorite, but they sometimes feed on skunk's 
cabbage, and what is still worse, the Indian turnip, or jack-in- 
the-pulpit, which has a juice when green, the most acrid and 
fiery of any plant in the country, burning the mouth worse 
than red pepper. They are very fond of sweet apples, but 
generally give sour apples a wide berth. They are also fond 
of flesh, particularly fresh pork, having a special relish for young 
pigs. They are passionately fond of ants, and in the woods 
many an old rotten log gets turned over, and many an ant-hill 
gets turned inside out, in search of these insects. They will also 
risk their lives for honey. 

When a bear is pursued by hunters it resorts to all sorts 
of schemes to throw them ofi:' the track. The most common of 
which is to double track. Every once in thirty or forty rods. 
the}^ will turn half way around and walk back in their previous 
tracks for four or five rods, and then turn partly back again 
and give a long jump to the right or left, then they will go on 
again at an angle of thirty or forty degrees from their original 
course. 



A PlONKKK HlSTom' ()!■ r>l-;CKKR CoL'XTV. 97 

In the month of September, 1877, I was examining a section 
of railroad land in Morrison County, ten or fifteen miles south- 
west of Litte Falls. About noon, while running a line with a 
small compass, I heard the sound of footsteps and a low mut- 
tering, between a grunt and a growl, ofif some distance to my 
left, which I at first took to be some of the Polish settlers hold- 
ing a confab in their own language. As I proceeded north the 
noise appeared to keep about the same distance from me, until 
all at once, whatever they were they made a rush towards me 
and came to a standstill in a clump of willows and alders about 
four rods to my left. They then set up a most unearthy noise, 
(lififerent from anything I had ever heard, a sort of compound 
noise, something like what you would hear if you would turn three 
or four calves loose, and set three or four bloodhounds onto 
them, and the whole six or eight would tune up and make all 
the noise they possibly could in their own tongues. I concluded 
that some wolves had caught a deer and were devouring it 
alive, so I broke down a bush to mark the place where I had 
left ofif my line, hung my book pocket and compass on a tree, 
and with my Jacob's-stafif rushed ofif down into the willows to scare 
ofif the wolves and secure the venison. I had no gun, but I 
made my way through the brush foir a distance of twenty or 
thirty feet, during which time the noise had ceased, when im- 
mediately there commenced a fearful cracking of brush and 
renewal of the noise, all of which were fast coming in my di- 
rection. I stood my ground until some big willows began to 
bend over almost in my face, when I turned and made for 
higher ground. I had seen no animals yet, but I could hear 
them close to my heels as I ran, and wdien I got out of the 
swamp, I came to an ironwood tree, about six inches in diame- 
ter, which I went up like a squirrel ; never before had I dreamed 
that I could climb so well, and even took my Jacob's-stafif with me. 

Immediately after I had seated myself on the first limb, which 
was eight or ten feet from the ground, a big black bear rushed 
up to the foot of the tree, raising herself up on her hind feet 
and tried to climb the tree. The tree, however, was too small 
for her grasp, so she stood and looked at me, giving an occa- 
sional "cluck" wath her tongue and now and then renewing 
her efiforts to climb the tree. I tried to strike her with the 
Jacob's-stafif, but could not quite reach her. Every time I struck 
at her she would strike at the stafif with her paw. 



98 A PioxHER History of Becker County. 

\\'hile the old bear was keeping me up the tree, four more 
bears, two of whom were full grown and two were cubs, came 
out of the swamp and seated themselves on the ground about 
fifty feet away, keeping up a low muttering all the time. 

When the old bear had kept me up the tree about ten min- 
utes, she went back to the other bears and seated herself with 
them. The}' ap]:)eared to have made up their minds to stay all 
day. After waiting ten minutes longer, I climbed down, and 
as the bears did not attempt to follow me, I set up my compass 
and then started north on mv line, while the bears sat still and 
looked on. 

There is another story which I will relate in connection with 
this. When I had finished my day's work, I started to hunt 
our camp. After going east about two miles, I came to a log- 
house and on entering asked the lady of the house for a drink 
of water, and received what was much more to my liking, a 
drink of milk. She asked me what I was doing back there in 
the big brush, saying at the same time she seldom saw anvone 
coming from that direction. I told her I was looking over the 
railroad coiupany's land, "(^)h," says she "you are one of those 
'valuators' that are around here." I then told her about the 
bears. She wanted to know if I did not know of some better 
place in Minnesota where there were no bears to eat up the 
children, and where the children could go to school. I referred 
her to Becker County, the result of which was that the whole 
family moved up to Detroit the next spring, and they are now, 
1901, among the most prosperous farmers in Detroit Town- 
ship. The lady referred to is Mrs. Martin Casey. By the way, 
Casey and his neighbors went the next day and killed all of the 
five bears. 

On the 25th day of October, 1884, a young man came into 
my office, at Detroit (I was County Auditor), and asked me to 
go with him and show him a homestead. I replied that if he 
would furnish a conveyance, I would go with him. He soon 
appeared with a team and butcher's wagon belonging to John 
O. French. Before leaving Detroit, we met my brother's young- 
est boy, AA' arlo Wilcox, with a little single barrel shotgun, and 
he wanted me to take it along, saying we might see something 
we would w^ant to shoot. The shotgun was accordingly taken 
along. We reached Height of Land Lake about eleven o'clock, 
hitched our team and proceeded to look over section eight in 



A PioxKKR History of BivCker Colintv. 99 

lleii^ht of Land Township, j^'oing south on the east Hue of 
the section and l)ack north through the middle. Soon afer 
])assing" the central point of the section we came to a thicket 
of young poplars, where there was a lot of fresh earth scattered 
around, and a lot of small stacks of leaves piled up, and my 
com])anion remarked that "there must have been some deer in 
there." I replied that there had been something" worse than 
deer in there. Just then a big black bear stuck its head out of 
a hole in the ground, about six feet from where I stood and 
undertook to come out. It was growling and showing its teeth 
in a frightful manner, when I rushed up and kicked at it and 
it quickly slid back into the ground. I then shouted to my 
companion, "here is a bear." The next thing that came into 
my mind was a wish that we had something to kill the bear 
with, a gun, a revolver, an ax or even a hatchet. I had for- 
gotten that we had a gun with us, when my companion called 
to me to take the gun and give him the compass. I replied 
that was just what I wanted. I cocked the gun, which was 
loaded with Xo. 6 shot for partridges, and aimed at the l)ear's 
head, which was now in plain sight and pulled the trigger, but 
the hammer failed to fall. I let the hammer down and cocked 
it again, but still I could not fire the gun off. I fooled away 
at least two minutes with the lock and then asked my com- 
l)anion what was the matter with the gun. He said that I must 
have pulled the hammer back too far, as there were three catches 
to the lock instead of two like other guns. The second was 
the right one, whereas I had each time pulled it l)ack to the 
third notch. Having now studied out the combination, I began 
to look for the bear, but it had disappeared. I then wdiistled 
twice long and loud, wdien I thought I could see its head down 
in the hole and took aim half way between the eye and the ear 
and pulled the trigger once more. This time there was no fail- 
ure, the gun went otT and here was a terrible kicking for a 
minute down in the hole and then all was still. The bear had 
kicked itself well back to the rear of its den. By hard pulling 
I managed to get the bear back to the entrance, then we got 
hold of an ear and a paw each and finally pulled the bear out. 
In going back to our team we met John and Marcus Soper ; 
they had an ax with them and we soon cut a road to the bear, 
and they assisted us in lifting it into the butcher's wagon, which 
was just the thing to haul the bear home in. We arrived at 



loo A PioNKKR History of Bkckek County. 

Detroit a little before dark and weighed the bear on Smith and 
Harris's scales. It weighed 299 pounds. 

In August, 1872, W. W. M'Cleod, of Richwood, was gather- 
ing beans near his house when he heard screams from the in- 
mates of the house. A young bear had entered the kitchen, but 
retired on hearing the screams. Air. M'Cleod with the aid of 
his wife and some strong blankets succeeded in capturing young 
Bruin. 

George Learman, of Detroit, says that sometime in the 
eighties he was hunting deer over near the Detroit mountain, 
when some boy who was hunting in the same vicinity called to 
him that "there was a bear over there." He went to the boy, 
and was shown a bear that was denned up for winter, but partly 
aroused, was looking out of his den. George shot, and as he 
supposed, killed the bear ; laid his gun down and was tugging 
away to get the bear out of the hole ; had worked at him some 
little time, pulling and tugging, and while he had Mr. Bear 
by the head and jaws trying to get him out. the bear suddenly 
opened his eyes and mouth, giving a half grunt or growl. George 
was exceedingly surprised, and admits that he was a very scared 
boy and got away from the bear mighty quick, secured his gun 
and did a lot of shooting at the poor bear's head before he 
ventured near him again. 

'Sir. Larson kindly brought the particulars of a bear to the Local 
which are substantially as follows', and occurred in Richwood: 

Early Monday morning while IMrs. Frank Anderson was doing her 
housework, she heard a commotion in the barnyard, and looking out, saw 
a monstrous black bear making toward the house. She at once screamed 
for her husband who fortunately happened to be near by. He seized his 
gun and shot the bear in a vital spot, which knocked him down. He im- 
mediately arose and advanced toward Mr. Anderson, who rapidly fired three 
more shots that took effect in vital places, but did not quite succeed in 
killing him in that manner. He then grabbed his axe and with some well 
directed blows finished killing Bruin. His faithful dog rendered efficient 
service by fighting the bear from the rear. 

Quite a large amount of stock has been killed in the vicinity, and 
lately a number of calves, the slaughter of the latter v;as attributed 
to the bear killed Monday. It is reported that there are more of these 
savage beasts in this region.— La/cf Park Local. 

June 6th, 1884. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. ioi 



HUNGRY BEAR SCRATCHES AT FARM HOUSE DOOR AND 
MEETS HIS WATERLOO. 

August, 1906. 

Charles Oelfka. of Height of Land Township, was chased around his 
farm-house by a huge black bear. Fortunately, he had left the door of his 
house partly open, and he dashed through the door and shut out the anger- 
ed bear, who then pushed and scratched at the entrance in an efifort to force 
its way in. Mr. Oelfka heard something scratching at the side of the 
house, and thinking the cattle were loose, he went down stairs attired just 
as he had been sleeping, and went into the yard. No sooner was he in the 
dark than he saw the big dark object moving towards him. Oelfka ran into 
the house. 

Then Bruin moved to the window, and Mr. Oelfka shot the animal as 
it stood at the window looking inside. The bear rushed ofif, and Oelfka 
chased it with some dogs. He came up to it in the woods and again shot 
it. this time fatally. 

The bear was brought to Frazee. It weighed 250 pounds, and was 
almost black. The meat was sold and was quickly purchased by the citizens. 

Mr. Oelfka says that the forest fires have been raging fiercely in the 
woods northeast of Frazee, and they have driven the game from their 
seclusion to the lands which are being cultivated. In consequence of this 
fierce fire, it is expected that wild game will be plentiful in the northeastern 
part of Becker County this year. A recent heavy rain has retarded the 
forest fires, but the wild animals, driven from their seclusion, are hungry 
and fierce. — Detroit Record. 

Alexander Henry says in his Journal : 

September 15th, 1800. 
My hunter killed a large bear near the camp today, and a half-breed 
killed four more. 

September 20th, 1800. 

Two Indians came from above and informed me that they had killed 

forty bears, some elk, moose, and a few beavers and raccoons. One 
Indian boy had killed two bears. 

October 13th, 1800. 

One of my hunters saw a full grown bear as white as snow. His gun 
missed fire and the bear escaped. He assured me that it was not a grizzly, 
but one of the common kind. 

The bears, both black and grizzly, which reside along Red River, take 
to the large hollow cottonwood trees, where they lie dormant during the 
winter and are hunted by the Indians in the same manner as raccoons. 

But the bears in the rolling country, where it is more elevated, never 
take to the trees for their winter quarters. They live in holes in the 
ground, in the most intricate thicket they can find, generally under the 
roots of trees' that have been torn up by the wind or have otherwise fallen. 



I02 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The reason why the bears differ so much in their choice of habitations' is 
obvious. The low points along the river are every sprmg subject to 
overflow when the ice breaks up. The water and mud carried down by 
the current make their dens v:ncomfortable. On the higher lands where 
the ground is free from overflow the soft and sandy soil is not so cold 
and uncomfortable as the stiff black mud on the banks of the river. 

August 8th. 1808. 

Last evening the Indians brought in some fresh meat, including a 
large black bear and her two cubs, one of which was brown and the other 
entirely black. This is frequently the case. I once saw a black bear 
killed early in the spring, whose two cubs were taken alive, one of them 
being cinnamon and the other black. 

Both were kept at the fort for a long time and became perfectly tame. 




Q 



I04 A Pioneer History of Becker County, 



The Wolverine. 

The wolverine is a native of the semi-arctic regions of North 
America, but has been found somewhat farther south than our 
range of latitude, and I have it from good authority that it for- 
merly inhabited the timbered regions of Becker County, but never 
in very large numbers. 

In the winter of 1801-02. two wolverines were killed in the 
vicinity of White Earth and the skins taken to a trading post 
where Grand Forks now stands. In the winter 1802-03 the 
skin of a wolverine was purchased at a trading post recently 
established at White Earth. 

In the winter of 1880-81, I found the tracks of an animal, 
in the Shell Prairie country, that the Indians said was a wolver- 
ine. The track of one forefoot was five inches long and four 
inches wide. I measured the track in the snow with a short 
stick and then measured the stick in camp. 

Old North-Wind, the Pine Point Indian, says he killed a 
wolverine many years ago with a hatchet, that had broken into 
an old wigwam, and was gnawing some bones that had been 
left there. 

Old Basswood says the last time he heard of a wolverine in 
Becker County was about fifteen years ago, or about 1890. I have 
seen two wolverines in my lifetime, but they were not in Becker 
County. 

When in the gold mines in Montana, in 1862-3, I had a part- 
ner by the name of John Peterson. On one occasion Peter- 
son went away prospecting in the mountains for a couple of 
weeks, leaving his cabin locked. His cabin was built of pine 
logs, the lower tier of which lay flat on the ground, and the 
floor was nothing more or less than the bare ground itself. In- 
side the cabin he left ten or fifteen pounds of bacon and a quanti- 
ty of dried venison. 

AMien Peterson returned he discovered that something had 
been prospecting under his house, during his absence. A hole 
had been dug under one side nearly big enough for him to 
crawl through himself. Hearing a noise inside he plugged up 
the hole and unlocked the door of his cabin, and was not long 
in discovering the burglar, which proved to be a wolverine of 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 105 

large size. He at first attempted to make his escape through the 
hole by which he had entered, but failing in this he backed him- 
self up into one corner, where he fell a victim to the unerring 
aim of Peterson's navy revolver. 

The wolverine had been living high during Peterson's absence. 
The meat had about all disappeared and he had been occupying 
Peterson's bed, nesting in the dried hay, but had kept it tolerably 
clean although the floor had been defiled in a beastly manner. 

This animal nteasured nearly three feet in length, exclusive 
of the tail, which was about ten inches long, and stood about 
sixteen inches high. 

As the wolverine has undoubtedly left Becker County for all 
time I will endeavor to give a detailed account of this peculiar 
animal. 

The wolverine is the largest of the family of animals to 
which it belongs ; such as the fisher, the marten, the skunk, the 
otter, the ermine, the weasel and the badger. It somewhat re- 
sensil)le cub bear in its movements, but much more resembles 
a low standing, bushy-haired dog in appearance. 

As my experience with wolverines has been very limited I 
will quote from a work published by Professor Elliot Coues, 
secretary and naturalist of the American branch of the commis- 
sion that established the boundary between the United States and 
British America. The title of the work is "Fur Bearing Ani- 
mals." 

In color, tiie wolverine is blackisli, or deep dusky brown, with a re- 
markable broad band of chestnut or yellowish-brown, running along the 
sides, and turning up to meet its fellow on the rump and base of the tail. 

The wolverine is a dangerous foe to many animals larger than itself, 
and by the profes'sional hunter is looked upon as an ugly and dangerous 
customer. 

To the trapper, the wolverines are equally annoying. When they 
have discovered a line of marten traps, they will never abandon the road, 
and must be killed before the trapping can be successfully carried on 
Beginning at one end, they proceed from trap to trap along the whole 
line, pulling them successively to pieces, and taking out the baits from 
behind. When they can cat no more, they continue to steal the baits 
and hide them. If hungry, they may devour two or three of the martens 
they find captured, the remainder being carried off and hidden in the 
snow at a considerable distance. The work of demolition goes on as fast 
as the traps can be renewed. 

The prospensity to steal and hide things is' one of the strongest traits of 
the wolverine. To such an extent is it developed that the animal will 



io6 A PioNKKR History of Becker County. 

often secrete articles of no possible use to them. He has been known 
to gnaw through a log nearly a foot in diameter, and also to dig a hole 
several feet deep in frozen ground, to gain access to the coveted supply. 
This propensity of the wolverine to carry ofif traps receives confirma- 
tion from other sources. In Captain Cartwright's Journal (ii, 407), an 
instance is recorded in the following terms: — "In coming to the foot of 
Table Hill I crossed the track of a wolverine with one of Mr. Callingham's 
traps on his foot; the foxes had followed his bleeding track. As this 
beast went through the thick of the woods, under the north side of the 
hill, where the snow was so deep and light that it was with the greatest 
difficulty I could follow him even on Indian rackets, I was quite puzzled 
to know how he had contrived to prevent the trap from catching hold of 
the branches of trees or sinking in the snow. But on coming up with him 
I discovered how he had managed; for after making an attempt to fly at 
me, he took the trap in his mouth and ran upon three legs. These 
creatures are surprisingly strong in proportion to their size; this one 
weighed only twenty-six pounds and the trap eight; yet including all the 
turns he had taken he had carried it six miles." 

The ferocity of the wolverine, no less than its cunning, is illustrated in 
some of the endless occasions on which it matches its powers against those 
of its worst enemy. A man had set a gun for a wolverine which had been 
on his usual round of demolition of marten traps. The animal seized the 
bait unwarily, and set ofT the gun; but owing to careless or improper 
setting, the charge missed or only wounded it. The wolverine rushed 
upon the weapon, tore it from its fastenings, and chewed the stock to pieces. 
At Peel's River, on one occasion, a very old wolverine discovered my 
marten road, on which I had nearly a hundred and fifty traps. I was in 
the habit of visiting the line about once a fortnight; but the beast fell in 
the way of coming oftener than I did, to my great annoyance and vexation. 
I determined to put a stop to his thieving and his life together, cost what it 
might. So I made six strong raps at as many different points, and also 
set three steel traps. For three weeks I tried my best to catch the beast 
without success; and my worst enemy would allow that I am no green 
hand in these matters. The animal carefully avoided the traps set for his 
own benefit, and seemed to be taking more delight than ever in demolishing 
my marten traps and eating the martens, scattering the poles in every 
direction and caching what baits or martens he did not devour on the spot. 
As we had no poison in those days, I next set a gun on the bank of a little 
lake. The gun was concealed in some low bushes, but the bait was so 
placed that the wolverine must see it on his way up the bank. I blockaded 
my path to the gun with a small pine tree which completely hid it. On 
my first visit afterward I found that the beast had gone up to the bait and 
smelled it, but had left it untouched. He had next pulled up the pine 
tree that blocked the path, and gone around the gun and cut the line which 
connected the bait with the trigger, just behind the muzzle. Then he had 
gone back and pulled the bait away, and carried it out on the lake, where 
he laid down and devoured it at his leisure. There I found my string. 
I could scarcely believe that all this had been done designedly, for it 
seemed that faculties fully on a par with human reason would be required 



A PioxKER History of BiX'kkr Couxtv. 107 

for such an exploit, if done intentionally. I therefore rearranged things, 
tying the string where it had been bitten. But the result was exactly the 
same for three successive occasions, as I could plainly see by the foot- 
prints; and what is most singular of all, each time the brute was careful to 
cut the line a little back of where it had been tied before, as if actually 
reasoning with himself that even the knots might be some new device of 
mine, and therefore a source of hidden danger he would prudently avoid. I 
came to the conclusion that he ought to live, as he must be something at 
least human, if not worse. I gave it up, and abandoned the road for a 
period. When pressed by the pangs of hunger, still bolder exploits are 
sometimes performed, as in the instance narrated by Captain J. C. Ross. In 
the dead of an Arctic winter, his ship's company were surprised by a 
visit from a wolverine, which clambered over the snow wall surrounding 
the vessel, and came boldly on deck among the men. Forgetful of its 
safety in the extremity of its need for food the animal seized a canister 
of meat, and suffered himself to be noosed while eating. 



The Fisher. 

'i'he fi.sher formerly inhabited Becker County in large num- 
bers, but I fear they will now have to be classed among the 
extinct animals of the county. 

1 never saw but one fisher, and that one was wading around 
in a shallow place in a stream of water apparently trying to catch 
a fish, or a frog, or a clam, or possibly a turtle for its dinner. It 
was not very shy at first, but after allowing me to approach with- 
in a couple of rods, it ran ashore on the same side of the creek 
on which I was standing and disappeared among the pines. 

This fisher was about the size of an ordinary red fox; being 
a])out two feet long exclusive of the tail which was about a foot 
in length, and much more slender than that of a fox. Its color 
was black. 

Old Basswood says that fishers were cjuite common about the 
headwaters of the Otter Tail River until about thirty years ago, 
when a terrible fire swept through that part of the country and 
they all disappeared. He thinks the fire referred to occurred in 
the spring of 1872. 

Ouoting again from Professor Coues : 

The general aspect is rather that of a fox than of a weasel, but the 
ears are low, and remarkably broad, being about twice as wide at base as 
high; they are rounded in contour, and well furred, both sides, to the 



io8 A PioNKER History of Becker County. 

entrance. The feet are broad and flat, furred both sides, and armed with 
very stout, compressed, much curved, acute claws. 

The fisher is a larger and stronger animal than any variety of the 
pine marten, but it has similar manners; climbing trees with facility, and 
preying principally upon mice and frogs. It lives in the woods, preferring 
damp places in the vicinity of water, in which respect it differs from the 
marten, which is generally found in the driest spots of the pine forests. 

The hunters have assured me that they have known a fisher to destroy 
twelve out of thirteen traps in a line not more than fourteen miles long. 

Mr. Frothingill informs us that whilst residing in the northern part 
of our state, thirty-five years ago, hunters were in the habit of bring- 
ing us two or three specimens in the course of the winter. They obtained 
them by following their tracks in the snow, when the animals had been 
out in quest of their prey the previous night, thus tracing them to the 
hollow trees in which they were concealed, which they chopped down. 
They informed us that as a tree was falling, the fisher would dart from 
the hollow, which was often fifty feet from the ground, and leap into the 
snow, when the dog usually seized and killed him, although not without 
a hard struggle, as the fisher was infinitely more dangerous to their hounds 
than either the grey or red fox. They usually called this species the black 
fox. 

A neighbor on one occasion, came to us before daylight, asking us 
to shoot a raccoon for him, which, after having been chased by his dogs 
the previous night, had taken to so large a tree that he neither felt dis- 
posed to climb it nor to cut it down. On our arrival at the place, it was 
already light, and the dogs were barking furiously at the foot of the tree. 
We soon perceived that instead of being a raccoon, the animal was a far 
more rare and interesting species, a fisher. As we were anxious to study 
its habits we did not immediately shoot, but teased it by shaking some 
grape vines that had crept up nearly to the top of the tree. The animal 
not only became thoroughly frightened, but seemed furious; he leaped from 
branch to branch, showing his teeth and growling at the same time; now and 
then he ran half way down the trunk of the tree, elevating his back in the 
manner of an angry cat, and we every moment expected to see him leap 
ofif and fall among the dogs. He was brought down after several discharges 
of the gun. He seemed extremely tenacious of life, and was game to the 
last, holding on to the nose of a dog with a dying grasp. This animal 
proved to be a male; the body measured twenty-five inches, and the tail 
fifteen inches. 

The largest fisher which I have seen was killed by myself on the 
Riviere de Argent, one of the channels of the mouth of Slave River, about 
fifteen miles from Fort Resolution. It was fully as long as' a Fulvus fox. 
much more muscular, and weighed eighteen pounds. In the color of its 
fur the greyish tints predominated, extending from half way down the 
back to the nose. The fur was comparatively coarse; though thick and 
full. The tail was long and pointed, and the whole shade of the pelage 
was very light and had rather a faded look. Its claws were very 
strong and of a brown color; and as if to mark its extreme old age the 
teeth were a good deal worn and very much decayed. I caught it with 



A PioNEUK History of Becker County. 109 

difficulty. For about two weeks it had been infesting my marten road, 
tearing down the traps and devouring the bait. So resolved to destroy 
it, I made a strong wooden trap. It climbed up this, entered from above 
and ate the meat. A gun was next set but with no better success, it cut 
the line and ran ofi with the bone that was tied o the end of it. As a 
dernier ressort. I put a steel trap in the middle of the road, covered it 
carefully, and set a bait at some distance on each side. Into this it tumbled. 
From the size of its footprints my impression all along was that it was a 
wolverine that was annoying me. and I was surprised to find it to be a 
fisher. It showed a good fight, hissed at me much like an enraged cat 
biting at the iron trap, and snapping at my legs. A blow on the nose 
turned it over, when I completed its death by compressing the heart with 
my foot until it ceased to beat. The skin when stretched for drying was 
fully as large as a middle sized otter, and very strong, in this respect 
resembling that of a wolverine. 

In their habits the fishers resemble the martens. Their food is much 
the same, but they do not seem to keep so generally in the woods. They 
are not so nocturnal in their wanderings as the foxes. An old fisher is 
nearly as great an infliction to a marten trapper as a wolverine. It is an 
exceedingly powerful animal for its size, and will tear down the wooden 
traps with ease. Its regularity in visiting them is exemplary. In one 
quality it is, however, superior to the wolverine, which is that it leaves 
the sticks of the traps where they are planted, while the other beast, if 
it can discover nothing better to hide, will cache them some distance ofif. 



no 



A Pioneer History of Becker County, 




PINE MARTEN. 



The Pine Marten. 

The ])ine marten was once very ])lenliful in the timber por- 
tions of Becker County, and it is possible that there are a few 
left in the north central part, although I have not heard of one 
for several years. 

I never saw but two. One of them had just been shot from 
an oak tree and the other was running up a low pine and skip- 
ping around anK^ng its branches. These martens bore a strong 
resemblance to the mink, only they were a little larger in size, 
and their ears were very much larger. They are expert climbers, 
and are as much at home among the trees as a squirrel. 

Old Basswood's father killed four martens at Basswood Lake, 
in the southeast part of the reservation about 1855. 

The marten from which this i)hotograph was taken was a 
fairly good specimen, only it was much darker than they will 
average. 

In speaking of the marten, Professor Coues says : 

This animal is about the size of a common house cat, though standing 
much lower on account of the shortness of the legs. The length of the 
head and body is about a foot and a half, more or less; the tail with the 
hair is a foot long or less; the tail-vertebrae are less than half as long 
as the head and body. The tail is very full and bushy, particularly toward 
the end, the reverse of the tapering-pointed shape which obtains in the 
fisher. 

It is difficult to describe the color of the marten fur accurately. In 
a large heap of skins (upwards of fifty), which I have just examined 



A P'lOXEER IIlSToKV oF BKCKER CoUNTV. Ill 

minutely there exists a great variety of shades darkening from the rarer 
of yellowish-white and bright orange, into various shades of orange brown, 
some of which are very dark. However, the general tint may with pro- 
priety be termed an orange brown, considerably clouded with black on 
the back and belly, and exhibiting on flanks and throat more of an orange 
tint. The legs and paws as well as the top of the tail are nearly pure black. 
The claws are white and sharp. 

The marten is ordinarily captured in wooden traps of very simple con- 
struction, made on the spot. The traps are a little enclosure of stakes 
or brush in which the bait is placed upon a trigger, with a short upright 
stick supporting a log of wood; the animal is shut off from the bait in 
any but the desired direction, and the log falls upon its victim with the 
slightest disturbance. A line of such traps, several to the mile, often 
extends many miles. The bait is any kind of meat, a mouse, squirrel, 
piece of fish, or bird's head. One of the greatest obstacles that the marten 
hunter has to contend with in many localities is the persistent destruction 
of his traps by the wolverine and fisher, both of which display great cun- 
ning and perseverance in following up his line to eat the bait, and even 
the martens themselves which may be captured. The exploits of these 
animals in this respect may be seen from the accounts elsewhere given. 
I have accounts from Hudson's Bay trappers of a marten road fifty miles 
long, containing one hundred and fifty traps, every one of which was 
destroyed throughout the whole line twice — once by a wolf, once by the 
wolverine. When thirty miles of this same road was given up, the re- 
maining forty traps were broken five or six times in succession by the 
latter animal. 

Notwithstanding the persistent and uninterrupted destruction to which 
the marten is subjected, it does not appear to diminish materially in num- 
bers in unsettled parts of the country. It holds its own partly in conse- 
quence of its shyness, which keeps it away from the abodes of men, and 
partly because it is so prolific; it brings forth six or eight young at a 
litter. Its home is sometimes a den under ground or beneath rocks, but 
oftener the hollow of a tree; it is said to frequently take forcible posses- 
sion of a squirrel's nest, driving off or devouring the rightful proprietor. 
Though frequently called pine marten, like its European relative, it does 
not appear to be particularly attached to coniferous woods, though these 
are its abode in perhaps most cases simply because such forests prevail 
to a great extent in the geographical areas inhabited by the marten. 

The marten is no partner in guilt with the mink and weasel in the inva- 
sion of the farmyard, nor will it, indeed, designedly take up its abode in the 
clearing of a settler, preferring always to take its chances of food supply 
in the recesses of the forest. 




o 



A PioNiiEK ilisToKv c)F Becker Couxtv. 113 



The Otter. 

The otter inhabited Becker County 100 years ago in consider- 
able numbers, and their skins were an article of traffic of no small 
magnitude. They have, however, been getting gradually less, 
year by year ever since, until but very few are left in the county 
at the present time. 

I never saw but one otter alive, and that was shot by a com- 
panion at my side so quickl}- that I could hardly sa}' that I ever 
saw it alive. 

Few animals vary more in size than the otter. Some in- 
dividuals are twice as large and heavy as others equally as 
mature. The average length of a full grown otter is from four to 
four and a half feet, from tip to tip ; some specimens, however, 
touching five feet while others are not more than half as long. 

The fur of the otter is of great beauty, very thick, close, 
short and glossy. 

The otteir has a peculiar habit of sliding dat on its belly, 
whether for amusement or convenience, I am unable to say. 
In the winter of 1870 and 71, there was an otter slide on the west 
bank of the Otter Tail River, nearly in front of where George 
Herrick now lives in the Town of Erie. Although I have seen 
otter slides in dilTerent parts of the country, 1 must give in- 
formation at second hand, and will quote from Audubon, in the 
following language : 

The otters ascend the bank at a place suitable for their diversion, and 
sometimes where it is very steep, so that they are obliged to make quite 
an effort to gain the top: they slide down in rapid succession where there 
are many at a sliding place. On one occasion we were resting ourselves 
on the bank of Canoe Creek, a small stream near Henderson, which 
empties into the Ohio, when a pair of otters made their appearance, and 
not observing our proximity, began to enjoy their sliding pastime. They 
glided down the soap-like muddy surface of the slide with the rapidity 
of an arrow from a bow. and we counted each one making twenty-two 
slides before we disturbed their sportive occupation. 

This habit of the otter of sliding down from elevated places to the 
borders of streams, is not confined to cold countries, or to slides on the 
snow or ice, but is pursued in the Southern States, where the earth i.= 
seldom covered with snow, or the waters frozen over. Along the reserve 
dams of the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, these slides are verv 
common. 



114 -^ PlOXEKK HiSTOKV OF BliCKER CoUXTV. 

The food of the otter, and the manner in which it is procured, 
are noted l)y the same author in the following terms: 

The otter is a very expert swimmer, and can overtake ahnost any 
fish, and as it is a voracious animal, it doubtless destroys a great number 
of fresh water fish annually. We are not aware of it having a preference 
for any particular species, although it is highly probable that it has. 
About twenty-five years ago we went early one autumnal morning to study 
the habits of the otter at Gordon and Spring's Ferry, on the Cooper River, 
six miles from Charleston, S. C. where they were represented as being 
quite abundant. They came down with the receding tide in groups or 
families of five or six together. In the space of two hours we counted 
forty-six. They soon separated, ascended the different creeks in the salt 
marshes, and engaged in capturing mullets (Mugil). In most cases they 
came to the bank with fish in their mouths, despatching it in a minute, 
and then hastened back again after more prey. They returned up the river 
to their more secure retreats with the rising tide. In the small lakes and 
ponds of the interior of Carolina, there is found a favorite fish with the 
otter, called the fresh water trout. 

A retreat examined by Andubon has been thus described 1)y 
this author : 

One morning we observed that some of these animals resorted to 
the neighborhood of the roots of a large tree which stood on the side of 
the pond opposite to us', and with its overhanging branches shaded the 
water. After a fatiguing walk through the tangled cane-brake and thick 
underwood which bordered the sides of this lonely place, we reached 
the opposite side of the pond near the large tree, and moved cautiously 
through the mud and water to its roots; but the hearing or sight of the 
otters was attracted to us, and we saw several of them hastily make otY 
at our approach. On sounding the tree with the butt of our gun. we 
discovered that it was hollow, and then having placed a large stick in a 
slanting position against the trunk, we succeeded in reaching the lowest 
bough, and thence climbed up a broken branch from which an aperture 
into the upper part of the hollow enabled us to examine the interior. 
At the bottom there was c^uite a large space or chamber to which the 
otters retired, but whether for security or to sleep we could not decide. 
Next morning we returned to the spot, accompanied by one of our neigh- 
bors, and having approached and stopped up the entrance under water 
as noiselessly as possible, we cut a hole in the side of the tree four or 
five feet from the ground, and as soon as it was large enough to admit 
our heads, we peeped in and discovered three otters on a sort of bed 
composed of the inner bark of trees and other soft substances, such as 
water grasses. We continued cutting the hole we had made, larger, and 
when sufficiently widened, took some green saplings, split them at the 
butt end, and managed to fix the head of each animal firmly to the ground 
by passing one of these split pieces over his neck, and then pressing the 



A PioNKKR History of BkckER County. 115 

stick forcibly downwards. Our companion then crept in to tlic hollow, 
and soon killed the otters, with which we returned home. 

The last otters catight in I'.ecker County of wliicli J lune 
any knowledge were taken in Lake Eunice Township in 1887, an 
account of which is here given by James Xunn, of T\)nsfor(l. who 
was living in Lake Eiuiice at the time. 

In the fall of 1887, Harry Britt, a neighbor, and I were out hunting 
small game north of Lake Maud, when we came to a peculiar looking 
trail on the frozen inlet close to the lake. It looked as if something 
had been dragged along until the snow had become packed quite hard, 
and ended at the lake when the open water was reached. When we returned 
home, we reported the finding of this strange sign to Uncle George Britt, 
as Harry's father was called, and I well remember how anxious he became 
about some old traps that were hard to find. A few days afterwards he 
brought home three fine otter skins, for which he realized something like 
thirty dollars. 

]. N. 

S. F. Sivertson, of Toad Lake Township, while walking over 
the thin, transparent ice near the outlet of Toad Lake in the 
fall of 1902. discovered a large otter swimming in the water 
under the ice directly beneath his feet. He followed him for 
some distance thinking he might catch him, but he finally dis- 
appeared all at once, probably having entered his l)urrow, the 
entrance to which is always under the water, the same as that 
of a beaver. Otters never climb trees. 




Pi 
w 
o 

Q 
< 



A Pioneer History of Bkcker County. 117 



The American Badger. 

The badger was quite common in Becker County when it 
was first settled, and a few still remain, but they are not found in 
any such numbers as they were thirty or forty years ago. The 
badger is a stout, thick set animal of great strength, but is not 
especially noted for agility. The body is broad, flattened and 
low ; the legs being very short and stout, with broad, flat feet 
and enormous claws. 

The color is a grizzly gray which gives rise to the expres- 
sion "as gray as a badger." The length of the animal from tip 
to tip is about thirty inches, six inches of which is included 
in the length of the tail. Some of the fore claws are an inch and 
a half in length. 

The badger is one of the most secretive animals in the coun- 
try, living exclusively in holes in the ground, for the digging of 
which its whole make-up is admirably adapted, and it is seldom 
seen in the daytime. You might travel for days and weeks 
in a country where their holes were abundant, and where num- 
erous badgers lived, and not see a single animal. There are still 
a good many badger holes in our county, and undoubtedly a 
few badgers, but I have not seen a badger for twenty years. 
Every badger hole, however, is not the home of a badger, as many 
of these holes were originally the home of a gopher or a chip- 
munk, and have been enlarged by the badger in order to get 
at the little animal itself, for its supper or breakfast. 

The badger is not an expert runner and can be easily run down 
by a man on foot, in which case they always show fight. 

In the spring of 1871, when we were living on the northwest 
quarter of section 6 of Detroit Township, where Nels Lofstrum 
now resides, we discovered a badger's den near our house, and on 
two or three occasions Mrs. Wilcox encountered the old badger 
himself digging wild artichokes in a patch of hazel-brush about half 
way l)etween the house and his den. The first time she saw him 
he was only a few feet away and the badger immediately set 
his jaws to clattering like a threshing machine; but in a very 
short time he started on a run in one direction, and Mrs. Wil- 
cox started in the other direction, and it was only a question 
of speed as to which should reach their den first. The next time 



ii8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

she saw him, however, he did not appear to be so reaehly fright- 
ened, neither did she, and by the time we moved from there down 
to another claim at Oak Lake, a Httle later on, the badger had 
become comparatively tame. 

I once came across a large badger on the prairie, when en- 
gaged in examining land for the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany, some disance from its hole. I was alone and had no wea]:)- 
on but my Jacob's-staff. The badger started to run but i soon 
overtook him, when he turned to fight. Anyone who has been 
in close quarters with a badger knows what a frightful noise they 
make by clattering their jaws together, when brought to bay. 
The bear makes a similar noise under the same circumstances, 
only much louder. \\'oodchucks or ground-hogs make the same 
kind of noise. It is neither a growl, nor a snarl, nor a howl, nor 
a hiss, but rather a mingling of all. 

When the badger saw that he could not get away he turned 
and came at me with a rush, with his jaws clattering loud enough 
to be heard twenty rods away. I struck at him with my Jacob's- 
stafif, but he proved to be an artful dodger. I backed away a 
few steps, when he charged at me again, this time raising on his 
hind legs as he came up trying to claw and bite my hands and 
legs. I kept him off with my Jacob's-staff and finally managed to 
hit him a welt across the back that stunned him for a few seconds, 
but before I could repeat the blow he rose up and was ready to 
renew the fight. I then knocked him over, and hit him when 
he was down. He, however, made another charge, but my blows 
finally began to tell, and after hitting him at least a dozen times, 
I finally cracked his head, which finished him. 

My right arm and shoulder were so lame after that fight 
that I could not get my coat on, and was obleged to carry my 
arm in a sling for a whole week. 

On another occasion, when out on a survey in North Dakota 
in 1876, we were camped on the banks of the Sheyenne River 
near where Lisbon now stands. One morning we were going 
to move our camp, so I left all the men to help load u]) tlie camp 
outfit and started off alone for the place where we were to begin 
our day's work, expecting the men to follow as soon as the wagon 
was loaded, ^^■hen 1 had gone nearly a mile, I saw two badgers 
digging roots in a patch of wild artichokes, but when they saw 
me they ran for their home and both rushed in. The foremost 
badger immediately l)egan digging and throwing dirt in the wav 



A l'i().\):i;i< llisToin- of Becker County. 119 

of the hindmost which obstructed his progress, so I reached 
the hole just in time to catch liold of his tail. The badger pulled 
with all his might, and the badger is a very powerful animal. 
Vie immediately commenced digging also, excavating with his 
fore paws and throwing out the dirt with his hind feet, and turn 
mv head whatever way I would, a good part of it came square 
into my face. The weather was dry, and the day hot, and the 
light soil as it came from that hole was nothing more or less 
than a continuous stream of dust. The badger in the meantime 
was digging himself slightly farther and farther in, and the 
strain on his tail was becoming harder and harder all the time. 
My arms were pulled their whole length into the hole, and noth- 
ing but the size of the hole prevented me from being pulled in 
altogether. When I first caught hold of the badger I expected 
somie of the other men along in a very short time and intended to 
have them help dig out the badger. So I held on to him for at least 
half an hour. Finally my hands and arms began to grow dreadfully 
tired, the sweat was running in little streams down through the 
dust and dirt on my face, the badger was still heaving the dry earth 
into my neck, face and eyes until I finally decided that I could "hold 
the fort" no longer and was obliged to let go. I then went back to 
the camp and found that after they had loaded up the wagon they 
started to drive across the river and had tipped over, dumping 
the whole load int(_^ the water and had only just then finished re- 
loading the wagon. 

In August, 1878, I was camped for a week all alone by a 
little spring, six miles west of where the village of Steele, in 
Kidder County, N. D., now stands. I was living in a tent and 
as I had to do my own cooking, I had taken along quite an as- 
sortment of canned stuff, particularly canned beef. I was very 
careful of my provisions as there was no place to buy any 
nearer than fifty miles. As my work of appraising land took 
me away the whole of each day, I always took great care to 
fasten the front of my tent in the morning, and even banked it 
up next to the ground with sods to keep the "varmints" out. 
After a day or two, I found that some kind of an animal was 
making regular visits, both by night and by day. It finally 
got inside by digging a hole underneath and helped himself 
to half a can of canned beef that I had left open and tried to 
open a new can, as T could tell by the marks of his teeth. He 



I20 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

tried to get in at night and I could easily have shot him, but I 
supposed it was a skunk, and was not inclined to pick a quarrel 
with him as he was liable to be well armed himself. Finally one 
evening, as I sat in front of my tent eating supper, I made a 
new discovery. There was a steep bank about twenty feet from 
my tent, six or eight feet high, and I found that there had been 
a big hole dug in the bank that same day. My visitor had evi- 
dently taken a liking to the locality, and to me, and had decided 
to become mjy permanent neighbor. Before I had finished eat- 
ing, I fancied I could see a shadow or a motion of some kind, 
well back in the hole, and a moment later the object became a 
shade plainer and continued to advance almost imperceptibly un- 
til the outline of a badger's head came into plain view. I hap- 
pened to have a single barreled pistol with an eight inch barrel, 
at hand, and I shot he badger through the head, without leaving 
mv seat. 



The Skunk. 



The skunk is so common in Becker County that it is not 
necessary to say much about his everyday affairs, but there are 
some traits of character and habit peculiar to the animal that are 
both curious and interesting, and in which humanity in general 
is largely interested, to which I wish to call attention, and 
there is no way in which I can do it so briefly and clearly as to 
quote again from Professor Coues. He says : 

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ANAL GLANDS AND PROPERTIES 
OF THE SECRETION OF THE SKUNK. 

Tlie almost insuperable repugnance, which the skunk naturally excites', 
has always been an obstacle to the investigation of its peculiar defensive 
organs. 

The first, and for a long time the only accurate, record, was that given 
by Dr. Jefifries Wyman in the first volume of the Boston Natural History 
Society's Proceedings, 1844, p. no. This indicated, though briefly, the 
general structure of the parts which obtains throughout the family, as 
far as known. The organ is a true anal gland, without connection with the 
genito-urinary system. The organ is paired with a fellow on the opposite 
side. These glands are situated on either side of the intestine, at the root 
of the tail, just within the anus, and are about an inch in diameter. When 
the animal is pursued, the lower part of the intestine is prolapsed through 
the anus, the tail is elevated over the back, and by the contraction of the 
muscles of the anus the acrid fluid is eiected in two streams to the dis- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 121 

tance of six or eight feet. The fluid is a peculiar secretion Hke that of 
the civet, and not the urine, as is commonly thought. The common opin- 
ion, that the animal scatters it with its tail, is erroneous. The fluid is 
limited in quantity; and, having been discharged, the animal is harmless 
until the sacs are again filled by gradual secretion. 

To the eye, the peculiar and odoriferous secretion of this animal is a 
pale bright or glistening yellow, with specks floating in it. By the mi- 
croscope it looks like a clear fluid, as water, with masses of gold in it, 
and the specks like bubbles of air, covered with gold, or rather bags of 
air in golden sacks. The air I take to be the gas from the golden fluid 
The fluid is altogether peculiar and indescribable in odor, pungent, pene- 
trating, and persistent to a degree, perhaps, without parallel, outside of this 
sub-family, in the animal kingdom. It has been called "garlicky," but this 
is a mild term. The distance to which the substance, in liquid form, can 
be ejected, is, in the nature of the case, difficult to ascertain with pre- 
cision, and doubtless varies with the vigor of the animal and amount of 
accumulation in the reservoir. But there is no doubt that the spurt reaches 
several (authors say from four to fourteen) feet, while the aura is readih" 
perceptible at distances to be best expressed in fractions of the mile. 
The discharge is ordinarily invisible in the daytime, but several observers 
attest a certain phosphorescence, which renders the fluid luminous by night 
This is doubtless true, though I have not verified it by actual observation 
Emission does not take place when the animal is captured in a deadfall, in 
such way that the small of the back is broken by the falling weight. I 
found that instantaneous death is' not always a sure preventive of escape 
of effluvium. A skunk which I shot with my pistol, held within a foot of 
its head, the bullet traversing the whole body from the forehead to the 
groin, was too ofYensive to be skinned, though it died without a perceptible 
struggle, and had certainly not opened its reservoir up to the moment 
when shot. 

It seems, however, that the disgusting qualities of the substance have 
been given undue prominence, to neglect of a much more important and 
serious matter. The danger to the eyesight, should the acrid and pungent 
fluid actually fall upon the eyes, should not be forgotten. Dogs are some 
times permanently blinded by the discharge, and there are authentic cases 
in which human beings have lost their sight in the same way. Sir John 
Richardson alludes, on the authority of Mr. Graham, to the cases of 
"several" Indians who had lost their eyesight in consequence of inflamma- 
tion resulting from this cause. 

The effect upon dogs is described by Audubon and Bachman: "The 
instant," they say, "a dog has received a discharge of this kind on his 
nose and eyes he appears half distracted, plunging his nose into the earth, 
rubbing the sides of his face on the leaves and grass, and rolling in every 
direction. We have known several dogs, from the eyes' of which the 
swelling and inflammation caused by it did not disappear for a week. 

The fluid has been put to medicinal use in the treatment of asthma. 
One invalid is said to have been greatly benefited by the use of a drop three 
times a day; but he was soon obliged to discontinue the use of the remedy, 
owing to the intolerably offensive character which all his secretions ac- 



122 A l^loXKKK HiSToKV ()F BlvCKKR CoL'XTV. 

quired. A story is told* of an asthmatic clergyman who procured the 
glands of a skunk, which he kept tightly corked in a smelling-bottle, to 
be applied to his nose when his symptoms appeared. He be'.ieved he had 
discovered a specific for his distressing malady, and rejoiced thereat; but 
on one occasion he uncorked his bottle in the pulpit, and drove his con- 
gregation out of church. In both these cases, like many others, it is 
a question of individual preference as between the remedy and the disease. 

R.\BIES .\IEPHITIC.\. 
By Rev. Horace C. Hovey, M. A 

It is cruel to add aught to the odium already attached to the common 
skunk. But. clearly, he is as dangerous as he is disagreeable. In a wild 
state he is by no means the weak, timid, harmless creature commonly 
described by naturalists; although it is said that, if disarmed of his weapons 
of ofYence while young, he may be safely domesticated. 

An adventure, while on a summer tour amid the Rocky ^Mountains, 
first called my attention to the novel class of facts about to be presented. 
Our camp was invaded by a nocturnal prowler, which proved to be a large 
coal-black skunk. Anxious to secure his fine silky fur uninjured, I at- 
tempted to kill him with small shot, and failed. He made characteristic 
retaliation; and then rushing at me with ferocity, he seized the muzzle 
of my gun between his teeth! Of course the penalty was instant death. 
An experienced hunter then startled us by saying that the bite of this 
animal is invariably fatal, and that when in perfect apparent health it is 
always rabid. He resented our incredulity and confirmed his statement 
by several instances of dogs and men dying in convulsions shortly after 
being thus bitten. 

On mentioning this adventure to H. R. Payne, M. D.. who had been 
camping with miners near Canon City, Col., he said that at night skunks 
would, come into their tent, making a peculiar crying noise, and threaten- 
ing to attack them. His companions, from Texas and elsewhere, had 
accounts to give of fatal results following the bite of this animal. 

Since returning to Kansas City, I have had extensive correspondence 
with hunters, taxidermists, surgeons and others, by which means the par- 
ticulars have been obtained of forty-one cases of rabies mcphitica, occurring 
in Virginia, ^Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Texas. 
All were fatal except one; that was the case of a farmer, named Fletcher, 
living near Gainesville, Texas, who was twice bitten by M. macroura [of 
Aud. & Bach.r^M. mcphitica var. — E. C], yet recovered and is living still. 
On further inquiry it was found that he was aware of his danger, and 
used prompt preventive treatment. Another case was alleged to be an 
exception; that of a dog which was severely bitten in a long fight with 
a skunk, but whose wounds healed readily and without subsequent disease. 
It seems, however, that this dog afterward died with mysterious symptoms 
like those of hydrophobia in some of its less aggravated forms. 

Instead of burdening this article with a mass of circumstantial details, 
a few cases only will be given best fitted to show the peculiarities of the 
malady; and those are preferred that are located on the almost unin- 



*By .\udubon and Bachman, Quad. X. .\. i. 323. 



A PioxKi'K HisTom- oi" Ukckkr County. 123 

habited plains of western Kansas, because there the skunks would be least 
liable to be inoculated with canine virus. 

A veteran hunter, Nathaniel Douglas, was hunting buffalo, in June, 
1872, fourteen miles north of Park's Fort. While asleep he was bitten 
on the thumb by a skunk. Fourteen days afterwards singular sensations 
caused him to seek medical advice. But it was too late, and after con- 
vulsions lasting for ten hours he died. This case is reported by an eye- 
witness, Mr. E. S. Love, of Wyandotte, Kansas, who also gives several 
similar accounts. 

One of the men employed by H. P. Wilson, Esq., of Hayes City, Kansas, 
was bitten by a skunk at night, while herding cattle on the plains. About 
ten days afterwards he was seized with dilirium and fearful convulsions, 
which followed each other until death brought relief. Mr. Wilson also 
reports other cases, one of which is very recent. In the summer of 1873, 
a Swedish girl was bitten by a skunk while going to a neighbor's house. 
As the wound was slight and readily cured, the affair was hardly thought 
worthy of remembrance. But on Jan. 24th, 1874, the virus, which had 
been latent for five months, asserted its power. She was seized with 
terrible paroxysms. Large doses of morphine were administered, which 
ended both her agony and her life. 



The Raccoon. 



In its movements, and in the facility with which it uses its 
fore i)aws. the raccoon comes the nearest to a htiman being of 
any animal, in Minnesota. The track of the fore foot is hke that 
of a cliild's hand. It was formerly very common in I5eckei 
County, and there are still a good many left, but they are no 
where near as mmierotis as formerly. 

I have never seen but two raccoons in the County during my 
thirty-five years' residence here. In Xovember. 1883, I saw one 
in a small creek which is the inlet to Shell Lake at the bridge 
<»n the north shore. It soon went ashore and waddled off into 
the woods as soon as it saw me move. I found another u]) in 
a tree, about a foot in diameter, and there was a black squirrel 
u]) in the same tree with the .raccoon. I chopped the tree down, 
and when it fell the s(|uirrel gave a long leap when the tree was 
about three-fourths of the way to the ground, and struck the 
earth as lightly as a feather and escaped. The raccoon howevei 
clung to the tree until it struck the ground which threshed 
the life out of him. 

As most everyone knows, raccoons are great lovers of green 
corn, and manv of them are caught in the fall of the vear while 



124 -"^ PioxKKR History of Becker County. 

helping themselves to roasting- ears, or after being" tracked by 
dogs and treed in the adjoining forest, where they are easily 
killed by being shot, or by cutting down the tree in which they 
have taken refuge. 

Racoons are easily tamed and make interesting pets. I have 
had them reach their paw through a small hole in the wire 
netting of their cage, and insert it into the bottom of my vest 
pocket, and take out a peanut or a piece of candy as handilv as a 
monkey could do it. 

Alexander Henry in his journal says: 

Oct. igth, 1800. 
My men have caught twenty raccoons' and five foxes. They bring 
in daily some raccoons, foxes, fishers and wolves. 

Nov. 2ist, 1800. 
My men take no more raccoons in traps. These animals are now 
lodged in hollow trees, where they will remain, like bears, until spring, 
without sustenance. The men take plenty of foxes and wolves, a few 
fishers, and a chance marten. 

Nov. 30th, 1800. 
Some of my men went raccoon hunting, the weather being warm. 
They returned in the evening with seven, which they had t'onnd in one 
hollow tree. Raccoon hunting is common here in the winter season. The 
hunter examines every hollow tree, and when he sees the fresh marks of 
their claws, he makes a hole with an ax, and thus opens the hollow space, 
in which he lights a fire to find out if there be any raccoons within, as they 
often climb trees in the autumn, and not finding them proper for the 
purpose, leave them and seek others. But if they be within, the smoke 
compels them to ascend and put their heads out of the hole they entered. 
On observing this, the ax is applied to the tree and with the assistance 
of the fire, it is soon down, and the hunter stands ready to despatch the 
animals as they are stunned by the fall. But sometimes they are so ob- 
stinate as to remain in the tree until they are suffocated and roasted to 
death. 



The Opossum. 

I did not suppose that any opossum would ever have the 
courage to come to Becker County, and did not intend to say 
anything about him, but in the Detroit Record of December 
9th, 1904, the following appeared under the head of Height of 
Land items: "Mr. Herrick caught a possum in his trap last 
week." 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 125 

This brings the opossum right home among us, and gives me 
good ground to write up what I know of this interesting animal. 

When I was a boy, sixteen years of age, which carries us 
back to the winter of 1849-50, I was living in western New York, 
a country nearly as cold as this, and up to that time the opos- 
sum had never been heard of so far as any of us knew in that 
part of the country. I was trapping for foxes that winter with 
a steel trap, and was not very successful, as I only caught one, 
but caught several skunks, which I did not want, as they were 
of no value in those days. One morning in February, I visited 
my trap, already thoroughly disgusted with the skunks for being 
so careless in getting into my trap, when I found I had caught 
what I took to be another skunk. I had a club in my hands, 
but as I did not care to get at too close range, I threw my club 
at the animal at a distance of about a rod, and held my breath 
and shut my eyes to await the consequences. The clul) hit 
the ground and the trap, and just barely touched the animal, 
but not hard enough to hurt a baby. 

To my astonishment the animal keeled over, gave a few 
quivers and stretched itself out for dead. I had caught an ani- 
mal that was new and strange ; its tail w^as considerably more 
than a foot long, nearly an inch in diameter, round and entire- 
ly naked. I was somewhat surprised at the ease with which 
I had killed it, but never for a moment dreamed but that it was 
thoroughly dead. 

I took it home and put it into a box until after break- 
fast, when I found it was not only alive but quite lively. By 
the time I had it out of the box, it was dead as ever, so I took 
it over to a neighbor, who was an old trapper, and he pronounced 
it a "possum," and asked me if he might have the hide. I told 
him "yes" and he immediately preceeded to skin the animal. The 
ease with which it had been killed on two occasions had slipped from 
my mind, so I said nothing about it. but from what I have since 
learned of their habit of ''playing opossum." I am positive that one 
allowed himself to be skinned alive without liinching. 

The female opossum is provided with an external pouch, 
in which it carries its young, the same as a kangaroo. 

When the young opossums are first born, they are not more 
than an inch long, and resemble young mice, but they are im- 
mediateh' placed in the pouch by the mother, where they are 
nourished and grow rapidly for six weeks, at the end of which 



126 A PlOXKl'R lllSToKV Ol' UlvCKKK CoLWTV. 

time they leave the pouch and run al)()ut. l)ut occasionally re- 
turn for shelter and protection. 

Mrs. \\'ilcox. who is a native of ( )lii() where opossums 
were plenty, has seen them carrying" their young' in the manner 
described. She once saw a litter of young" opossums ])laving" in 
the woods, a little larg"er than new-born kittens, 1)ut as soon as 
they saw her, they made a scamper for their mother, who was 
not far away. The old opossum stood erect on her hind feet, 
and the young ones, five in number, climbed into the pouch, the en- 
trance to which was about half way between the fore legs and hind 
legs. She then wrapped her tail around her body just below the 
orifice of the pouch which served as a belt, and kept the young- 
sters from falling out, then dropped down on all four of her 
feet and scampered away to her little den in the rocks and was 
soon out of sight. 

These animals are good climbers and are ex])erts at gather- 
ing fruit, especially peaches, and farther south they go for the 
persimmons. They use their tails as well as their paws, and 
frequently have been seen with their tails wound around a limb 
and their body hanging" below head downwards, perhaps asleep, 
or perhaps reaching" out with their paws for persimmons, or what 
is also very much to their liking, the eggs in some bird's nest. 

Aside from the tail the opossum has some resemblance to the 
raccoon, only slightly smaller. 

After I caught my opossuni as first related, several others 
were caught that same winter. So. perhaps, others may follow 
up the brave fellow who has found his way to Becker County, 
and it is to be hoped they may be more fortunate, and keep out of 
the traps. 



The American Mink. 

The mink it too common in iiecker County to need a very 
minute description. With the exception of the muskrat, there 
have been more mink skins taken than those of any other fur- 
bearing animal in Becker County since the country began to 
be settled. Being strictly aquatic in its habits, the large number 
of lakes and ponds and rivers in Becker County aft'ord a vasi 
field for their homes and an abundance of their fa\orite food. 
The mink is still quite plentiful in Becker County. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 127 

Professor Coues says : 

"The length of head and body, 11 inches; tail vertebrae, 6; with hairs, 
7; total length, 18 inches. 

Unlike the marten, the mink has small, low ears, smaller than those 
of the weasel. 

I have observed that the color of this animal, as well as of the otter 
and beaver, grows lighter as it advances in years, and that the white 
blotches or spots are of greater size and distinctness in the old than in 
the young. The fur of a young mink (under three years), when killed 
in season is very handsome; its color is often an almost pure black. The 
skin is thin and pliable, approaching nearly to the papery consistency 
of that of the marten. When aged, the hide is thick and the color more 
rusty. The summer pelage is short, but tolerably close, and is of a reddish 
brown color, and the tail, though still possessing black hairs, shows dis- 
tinctly the under fur of a decidedly rusty hue. 

The peculiar odor which the animals of this genus have in common, 
attains in this large and vigorous species a surpassing degree of fetor, 
though of the same quality. No animal of this country, except the skunk, 
possesses so powerful, penetrating, and lasting an effluvium. Its strength 
is fully perceived in taking the animal from a trap, or when the mink is 
otherwise irritated. Ordinarily the scent is not emitted to any noticable 
degree; it is under voluntary control, and the fact that the mink spends 
most of its time in the water is another reason why its proximity, even 
in numbers, is not commonly perceived by smell. 

The tenacity of life of the mink is something remarkable. It lives 
for many hours — in cases I have known for more than a day and night — 
under the pressure of a heavy log, sufficient to hold it like a vice, and 
when the middle of the body was pressed perfectly flat. Nay, under one 
such circumstance, which I recall, the animal showed good fight on ap- 
proach. When caught by a leg in a steel trap, the mink usually gnaws and 
tears the captive member, sometimes lacerating it in a manner painful to 
witness; but, singular to say, it bites the part beyond the jaws of the trap. 
This does not appear to be any intelligent attempt to free itself, but rather 
an act of the blind fury excited by consciousness of capture. Some have 
averred that it is an instinctive means of lessening pain, by permitting a 
flow of blood from a portion of the limb beyond the point of seizure; but 
this seems to me very problematical. The violence and persistence of the 
poor tortured animal's endeavors to escape are witnessed in the frequent 
breaking of its teeth against the iron — this is the rule rather than the ex- 
ception. One who has not taken a mink in a steel trap can scarcely form 
an idea of the terrible expression the animal's face assumes as the captor 
approaches. It has always struck me as the most diabolical of anything 
in animal physiognomy. A sullen stare from the crouched, motionless 
form gives way to a new look of surprise and fear, accompanied with the 
most violent contortions of the body, with renewed champing of the iron, 
till breathless, with heaving flanks, and open mouth dribbling saliva, the 
animal settles again, and watches with a look of concentrated hatred, 
mingled with impotent rage and frightful despair. It is probably our only 



128 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

species which feeds habitually upon reptiles, fish, nioUusks and crustaceans 
— more particularly upon frogs, fresh water clams, crawfish and the like. 
Nevertheless, it is not confined to such diet, but shows its relationships 
with the terrestrial weasels in a wide range of the same articles of diet as 
the latter secure. It is said to prey upon muskrats — a statement I have 
no hesitation in believing, though I cannot personally attest it. It is also 
destructive to our native rats and mice and is known to capture rabbits, 
while its not infrequent visits to the poultry yard have gained for it the 
hearty ill-will of the farmer. Various marsh-inhabiting birds are enumerated 
in the list of its prey, among them the rails and several smaller species; 
and it does not spare their eggs. But most birds are removed from its 
attack; for the mink is not a climber, at least, not to any extent. 

Minks are not burrowing aninials in a state of nature, but freely avail 
themselves of the holes of muskrats and other vermin. They cannot climb 
a smooth surface, but ascend readily where there is roughness enough for 
a nail hold. The grown male will weigh about two pounds; the female 
is heavier than she looks, averaging between one and a half and one and 
three-fourths pounds. April is for the most part the month of reproduc- 
tion. Five or six young are ordinarily produced at a birth. Litters have 
been found in the hollow of a log, as well as in the customary burrows. 

The mink has been frequently tamed, and is said to become, with due 
care, perfectly gentle and tractable, though liable to sudden fits of anger, 
when no one is safe from its teeth. Without showing special affection, it 
seems fond of being caressed, and may ordinarily be handled with perfect 
impunity. 

E. C. 

S. F. Sivertson once dug a mink out of a hole in the ground 
on an island in Toad Lake. Just as he had unearthed the mink 
it gave an evasive jump and landed on the seat of Sivertson 's 
pants and scrambled up under his coat, where it fastened itself 
with its teeth and toe nails, which pricked through his shirt to the 
hide. Sivertson tried to pull it out by the tail, but the harder he 
pulled the worse it bit and scratched. He was finally obliged to 
lie down flat on his back, by which means he finally smothered 
the mink. 



I 



The Ermine. 



The ermine is still found in Becker County. It very much 
resembles the weasel, but is somewhat larger and invariably 
has a black tip to its tail, varying from one-fourth to one-third 
its total length. This is the distinguishing mark between the 
ermine and the weasel. The length of the ermine is about ten 
inches, exclusive of the tail, which is from four to five inches 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 129 

loni^. Its color in summer is a dull brown above, and a sulphury 
yellow beneath. In the winter, in this latitude, it is a pure 
white all over, except the end of its tail whch is black all the 
year around. 

The ermine is provided with glands which emit a powerful 
odor like that of the skunk, only it is less rank and penetrating, 
and not so far reaching. 

In the fall of 1872, while camped a few miles south of De- 
troit Lake, an ermine found its way into a sack that was about 
one-third full of dried venison. I was the first one to discover 
the intruder, so I closed up the sack, keeping him inside and 
finally caught him by the head while he was still in the sack, and 
killed him with my hands. The stench that he emitted was hor- 
ribly ofl^ensive, and the venison was ruined ; we never used any of 
it afterwards. 

The fur of the ermine, many years ago, was held in great 
value, being used for robes of royalty, worn by the crowned heads 
of China, Turkey and other nations of Europe. A thousand 
dollars was a low figure for a cloak of ermine. One hundred and 
fifty years ago, their skins formed a large part of the Canadian 
exports, but later they have so sunk in value as not to pay the ex- 
pense of collecting them. 

About the first of Nov., 1904, I saw a beautiful ermine near 
the Otter Tail River opposite the Commonwealth sawmill, in the 
slab-yard. He had just donned his winter's dress, which with 
the black tip to his tail presented an interesting and grace- 
ful appearance. A little shy at first, he soon became quite tame, 
allowing me to approach within a few feet of him, when suddenly 
he would retreat back in among the slabs, but soon returned, 
coming almost near enough for me to put my hand on him. 
After playing around in this way for five minutes, his curiosity 
was evidently gratified, and he scrambled away over the slabs 
in quest of a mouse or some other small game, to which they are 
very destructive. 

They are great destroyers of all small animals, such as rab- 
bits, hares, gophers and chipmunks ; also the domestic fowls of 
our poultry yards frequently fall a victim to their rapacity, as 
well as grouse and partridges, which, with their eggs and young, 
are in constant danger of being destroyed by the ermine. 



130 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Professor Coiies says : 

The ermine indeed is neither so aquatic as its congener, the mink, 
nor so much at home on trees as the marten; but it has too frequently 
been observed in such situations to admit the doubt that it both swims 
and climbs with ease and without reluctance. 

The always pleasing pen of Mr. Wm. Macgillivray has furnished us 
with the following general account of the habits of the ermine: It fre- 
quents stony places and thickets, among which it finds a secure retreat, 
as its agility enables it to outstrip even a dog in a short race, and the 
slimness of its body allows it to enter a very small aperture. Patches of 
furze, in particular, afiford it perfect security, and it sometimes takes 
possession of a rabbit's burrow. It preys on game and other birds, from 
the grouse downwards, sometimes attacks poultry or sucks their eggs, and 
is a determined enemy to rats and moles. Young rabbits and hares 
frequently become victims to its rapacity, and even full-grown individuals 
are sometimes destroyed by it. Although in general it does not appear to 
hunt by scent, yet it has been seen to trace its prey like a dog, following 
the track with certainty. Its motions are elegant, and its appearance 
extremely animated. It moves by leaping or bounding, and is capable 
of running with great speed, although it seldom trusts itself beyond the 
immediate vicinity of cover. Under the excitement of pursuit, however, 
its courage is surprising, for it will attack, seize by the throat and cling 
to a grouse, hare or other animal, strong enough to carry it off; and it 
does not hesitate on occasion to betake itself to the water. Sometimes, 
when met with in a thicket or stony place, it will stand and gaze upon 
the intruder, as if conscious of security; and, although its boldness has 
been exaggerated in the popular stories which have made their way into 
books of natural history, it cannot be denied that, in proportion to its 
size, it is at least as courageous as the tiger or the lion. 



The Weasel. 



There are weasels in Becker County as well as ermine, al- 
though they bear so great a resemblance to each other that most 
people are inclined to regard them as one and the same animal. 
Both animals change their color semi-annually, and both are 
inveterate destroyers of smaller animals, such as mice and go- 
phers, and frequently make sad work in the poultry yard. 

The weasel is shy and wary, while the ermine will approach 
a person as if unconcious of danger, and will dodge back and 
forth, to and from its place of concealment, coming a little nearer 
until within three or four feet, if unmolested. The weasel is a 
good climber, while the ermine seldom undertakes to climb 
anything more than a wood pile or a low building. The ermine 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 131 

is about three inches longer than the weasel, and the tip of its 
tail is always black, although the remainder of its fur may be 
either brown or white, while the tail of the weasel is all of the 
same color. 

I once saw a weasel, or rather a pair of weasels, which was 
an extraordinary freak of nature ; two of them grown together, 
after the manner of the Siamese twins. A ligament of skin 
and, probably, flesh, about an inch wide connected the two ani- 
mals together, just back of the fore shoulders. I saw them on 
two different occasions as they dodged back and forth under 
my father's barn. I tried to catch them, but did not succeed- 
That was in 1850 more than half a century ago, but I still re- 
tain a very distinct impression of their appearance. 

The weasel is sometimes the prey of hawks, but sometimes 
the hawk gets the worst of it. 

At one time a farmer in walking over his grounds, saw at a 
short distance from where he stood, a hawk pounce on some 
object on the ground, and rise with it in its claws. In a few 
minutes, however, the hawk began to show signs of great un- 
easiness, rising rapidl}' in the air. or as cpiickly falling, and wheel- 
ing irregularly around, while it was evidently endeavoring to 
force some obnoxious thing from itself with its feet. After a 
short but sharp contest, the hawk fell suddenly to the earth, 
not far from where the farmer stood intently watching the 
manoeuver. He instantly went to the spot, when a weasel ran 
away from the hawk, apparently unhurt, leaving the bird dead, 
with a hole eaten through the skin under the wing and the 
large blood vessels of that part torn through. Professor Coues 
says : 

A glance at the phj'siognomy of the weasel would suffice to betray 
its character. The teeth are almost of the highest known raptorial 
character; the jaws are worked by enormous masses of muscles covering 
all the side of the skull. The forehead is low. and the nose is sharp; the 
eyes are small, penetrating, cunning, and glitter with an angry green 
light. There is something peculiar, moreover, in the way that this fierce 
face surmounts a body extraordinary wiry, lithe and muscular. It ends a 
remarkably long and slender neck in such a way that it may be held at 
right angle with the axis of the latter. When the creature is glancing 
around, with the neck stretched up, and flat triangular head bent forward, 
swaying from one side to the other, we catch the likeness in a moment — 
it is the image of a serpent. 



132 A PioNEi;R History of Becker County. 



Bats. 

Bats were never very common in Becker County. When 
living on our homestead, at Oak Lake, more than thirty years 
ago, we occasionally had a visit from a bat ; they always, of course, 
come at nightfall and disappear at the break of day. 

I have not seen a bat for many 3'ears, and I am not sure 
that there are any in existence in the county at the present 
time, and there are, perhaps, young people in the county who 
never saw one, so I will give them a brief description. 

The bat is an animal abundantly supplied with wings, but 
without feathers. Their color is nearly black. Their bodies 
are covered with a short, fine substance, something like velvet, 
but their wings are naked, especially the inner surface. The 
head and ears somewhat resemble those of a mouse, but their 
sharp, carnivorous teeth are more like those of a weasel or a 
monkey. 

The length of the body is about two inches and the breadth 
of the extended wings five inches from tip to tip. The wings 
are made of a fine frame-work of bones and sinews covered 
with a fine, flexible membrane. I am not aware that they have 
any legs or feet, but they are provided with short claws instead. 

At the elbow joints of their wings are short hooks with 
which they suspend themselves from the underside of a roof 
or any other smooth surface, with their heads downwards. 

In the winter they retire to caves and other warm, sheltered 
places, where they lie dormant until spring. 

In the winter of 1897 and '98 I visited the Mammoth Cave 
in Kentucky, and when about half a mile underground we came 
to where the roof was literally covered with bats, in patches 
of twenty or thirty feet in extent. They were hanging suspended 
from the roof of the cave, heads downward by the hooks on 
their wings. 

Bats appear to have a peculiar affinity for bed-bugs. In the 
spring of 1856 I cut down a large black walnut tree in Fairfield 
County, Ohio, in the top of which was a large hollow containing 
a nest of bats. There were about forty bats in the hole and with 
them about a peck of bed-bugs. Being nocturnal in their habits, 
thev were dazed and blinded and bewildered bv the lisfht of the sun 



A PioxKER History of Becker County. 133 

to such an extent that they flew against us and against the trees, 
striking" them so hard that some of them were badly crippled. 



The Great Hare, or Jack Rabbit. 

This animal was formerly confined to the prairie regions in 
the western part of the county, but later on it has worked its 
way in among the clearings and fields in the wooded districts, 
farther east. 

The general color of the jack rabbit is a pale brown with 
black ear tips. It changes its color at the beginning of winter, 
and although the bleaching is extensive, it is never quite com- 
plete, like that of the timber rabbit. The change in color in 
this class of animals takes place as far south as latitude 41°, 
its range of latitude varying with the severity of the winter, 
while in the Allegheny and Rocky Mountain regions, it extends 
two or three degrees farther south. 

The jack rabbit is a very interesting and rather amusing 
'and comical animal, ^^'hen in seclusion and unconscious of 
being observed, and particularly when sitting erect on his hind 
legs, with one ear cocked back and the other forward, engaged 
in thinking of his family affairs, he is a very meek, serious and 
inoffensive looking animal ; but a jack rabbit engaged in a brown 
study and seriously reflecting on his misdeeds, and a jack rabbit 
engaged in destroying fruit trees and garden stuff are two dif- 
ferent propositions. A jack rabbit under a full head of steam 
is another propositon. 

With the approach of danger he will start off with a hop, 
skip and a jump, generally on three legs, as if partially disabled, 
and then stop and await developments, and right here is the 
critical period in the aff'airs of the jack rabbit, for if there is 
a shotgun in any way connected with the cause of alarm, he 
is now liable to fall a victim to its deadly aim. If he is not 
upset with a gun on the start, and he is satisfied after a moment's 
observation that the cause of alarm is a reality, he lets himself 
loose on all fours and starts oft' on a race that will outstrip 
the most swift-footed animal in the land. I have measured the 
jumps of a jack rabbit in the snow that were twenty-two feet be- 
tween tracks. In the fall of 1881, while I was engaged in sur- 
veying the Fargo branch of the St. Paul and Milwaukee 



134 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Railroad, there was a young" man in my party by the name of Henry 
Hamilton, from Detroit, a brother of Georg-e D. Hamilton of the 
Detroit Record, then about eighteen years of age. Once, as we 
were returning from our work to our boarding place at Fort Aber- 
crombie, Henry and I were riding in the tail end of the wagon 
with our feet hanging out behind, when a jack rabbit jumped up out 
of the grass and gave three or four bounds on three legs and 
then stopped. Says I to Henry "he has got a leg" broke and you 
can catch him." "That is so" says Henry, and off he started 
after the rabbit. The rabbit did not appear, however, to take 
him at all seriously at first, for he waited until Henry was 
within a short distance, when he gave a few more hops, still 
making believe that he was crippled and then stopped again. 
This gave Henry new courage, and he increased his speed with 
renewed energy. The rabbit now saw that Henry was in earnest 
and let himself out at full speed over the prairie, and was soon 
out of sight. When Henry came back he remarked that he 
didn't think that rabbit had any leg broken. 

The first jack rabbit, I ever saw was being chased by two big 
timber wolves. As soon as the rabbit saw me he started in 
my direction and came within about four rods, stopped and 
stood up on his hind legs and looked as though he felt himself 
to be in a place of safety. The w^olves both came within easy 
rifle shot and then stopped. It was difficult to decide which 
to shoot, the rabbit or one of the w^olves. But I was in need 
of meat and concluded to try the rabbit, and brought him down 
with a bullet through the head. \\'\i\\ a repeating rifle I could 
have easily killed one or both of the wolves, but before I could 
reload they were out of reach. That rabbit was all I had to 
eat for the next four days. 

In some of the states farther west, especially in the mountain 
valleys where irrigation is practiced, jack rabbits are a serious 
pest. They much prefer to gnaw the bark off the apple trees 
and to eat the young growing grain and alfalfa, than to live on 
their old diet of prickly pears and sage-bush, and as a conse- 
quence they thrive and multiply in some of those little valleys 
in the west to an extent almost beyond belief. In the summer 
of 1902, while traveling along the western borders of the Blue 
Mountains in central Oregon, on two different occasions and 
in two different places, I counted more than one hundred rabbits 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 135 

on eacli occasion along the roadside between sundown and 
dark. While I was at Prineville, the county seat of Cook County, 
two men in one day killed and brought in 137 jack rabbits and 
eave them to the hogs. 



The Northern Rabbit or Hare. 

When I began to write an account of the wild animals of 
Becker County, I intended to write about those only that form- 
erly lived here and have since disappeared altogether, or were 
liable to become exterminated, but when once started in, it is 
difficult to decide where to stop, so I am now getting among 
a class of animals that will smile at the idea of ever becoming 
exterminated, as, for instance, the muskrat, and still more so, 
the rabbit. "To breed like rabbits," is an old saying, and our 
rabbits are no exception to the rule , for there are five rabbits 
in the timber regions of the county now to where there was 
one thirty-five years ago. The woods were alive with foxes 
then, and they lived largely on rabbits, but the white settlers 
have long since thinned out the foxes with strychnine, and the 
rabbits have increased to correspond with the decrease of the 
foxes. 

The northern rabbit or hare, as every one knows, changes 
its color twice a year. Audubon, the celebrated American nat- 
uralist, and the man that our village of Audubon was named 
for by his own niece, once kept an animal of this class in con- 
finement for a whole month in the spring of the year while it 
was undergoing this change, and he ascertained that the change 
was made gradually by the white hairs falling out and new hairs 
of a brown color growing in their place. So he laid it down 
as a rule that all changes of color in animals at the beginning 
of the winter, as well as its close, came about in the same way. 

Other naturalists have since discovered, however, that while 
Audubon was correct as to the change in the spring, that he 
was in error in regard to the change in the beginning of the 
winter, which came about by a gradual change in the color of 
the fur as cold weather came on, and that there was no falling 
out of the fur itself. The northern rabbit is probably no more 
plentiful anywhere in the county than in the vicinity of the Otter 
Tail River in the town of Erie. 



136 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

In the l)e£;inning- of the long- cold \vinter of iSSj-'SS, a large 
family of people, and poor at that, moved into the house of 
Charles E. Molen, on Section 14, in Erie. The settlers in the 
vicinity were somewhat nervous over their poverty, and were 
fearful of being- obliged to help pull them through the winter. 
I was putting in logs at my mill by the bridge that winter, but 
I never heard of them' asking- for any help or going hungry, 
although I know they did not have $10 worth of provisions 
all winter besides rabbits. They kept two shotguns going, and 
killed several hundred rabbits that winter, all of which they 
devoured asking no favors of anyone. \A'hen spring came and 
the snow disappeared, the back yard and the front yard were 
both filled with the heads, pelts, running apparatus and general 
anatomy of those rabbits, and when the time came to clean up 
the yards and remove the rubbish, it made a whole wagon-load. 

Two men, who had just imported themselves into the county, 
wintered in a little cabin half a mile south of my mill that 
same winter on Section 26. I furnished them with a little salt 
occasionally, but aside from that they, too, lived entirely on rab- 
bits. They killed more than 100 during the month of February. 
After all this slaughter there were still rabbits left in the spring. 

One day, after the snow had gone, I was looking around 
among my saw-logs at the mill, when I saw a ral)bit bounding 
down one of the roads leading through the log yard, coming- 
straight towards me on a fast run, with a mink close at its heels. 
I supposed the rabbit would be as badly scared at me as he was 
at the mink, but instead of that he ran right in between niy feet 
and stopped there, his heart beating like a trip-hammer. The 
mink then sneaked ofT towards the river, while the ral)bit turned 
around and gazed at the mink for several minutes. I did not 
offer to disturb him, but let him sit until he was ready to leave. 
Finally he hopped leisurely away, and the last I saw of him, he 
was mounted on a saw-log, standing erect on his hind feet, taking 
observations. Mrs. AVilcox had fed and petted some of the rabbits 
around the mill that winter, but they never became very tame. 
They were fond of bread crusts, but would not eat soft bread. 

1 never was much of a rabbit hunter myself, but on one oc- 
casion when out hunting with a dog, he ran an animal, that 
I could see from its tracks was a rabbit, into a hollow tree about 
two feet in diameter. The tree was standino-, Ijtit the rabbit had 



A Pioneer History of Dkcker County. ^37 

gone up the hollow in the inside, out of reach. I then cut a 
pole about four feet long and nearly an inch thick, split the 
small end up for the distance of about a foot, and then ran the 
split end up the hollow tree. I could feel something alive up 
there, and placing the end of the pole against the rabbit, gave it 
a gentle twist which wound the split end of the pole into the 
rabbit's hide, so that it was glad to let go and come down, the 
stick still retaining its grip on the rabbit. Thinking there must 
be another, I ran the pole up the tree again, and twisted down 
another rabbit the same way. Trying my luck the third time, 
I soon tangled my split pole up in the fur of another rabbit. He 
held on long and hard, but the stick held its grip and I pulled 
him out also. 

This species of rabbit, or hare, is still very plentiful in some 
parts of the county. 

In the winter of 1905 and 1906. they were very numerous 
in the vicinity of Pine Point. William D. Aspinwall, who runs 
a store at that place says, that several times during that winter 
he and Peter Parker and Buddise went rabbit hunting, and they 
almost invariably killed and brought home two or three sacks 
full. Frequently, the three of them killed over 100 in a single 
dav. 



The Cottontail Rabbit. 

There are not many cottontail rabbits in Becker County. 
I never saw or heard of any here, until five or six years ago, 
and have never seen but two or three in Becker County, although 
they are quite plentiful in some parts of Otter Tail County. 

The cottontail is a true rabbit, as it never changes its color, 
whereas those animals of this family that turn white in the 
winter are nothing more or less than hares, although usually 
called rabbits. 

The cottontail is a little smaller than our native hare, and 
they are very numerous in some of the states farther south, 
where they are a positive nuisance, being very destructive to 
fruit trees and gardens. 

The cottontail lives almost exclusively in and around culti- 
vated fields, while the native hare of our county makes its home 
in the seclusion of the forests. 



138 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

It is nothing" nncomnion for hunters in some parts of Iowa 
to go out and shoot forty or fift}^ of these rabbits in a few hours. 

The cottontail rabbits have been working slowly north, towards 
Becker County for several years, but I think they are making 
a great mistake in coming to this cold country, with nothing 
to wear but their summer clothing, for we have a breed of 
rabbits here, already acclimated, and abundantly supplied with 
clothing suitable for both winter and summer, and wdiich are a 
much superior breed to the cottontails, and far less destructive 
to gardens and orchards. 




< 

pq 



140 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



The Beaver Cub. 

The beaver formerly inhabited Becker County in immense 
numbers, but by the time the first settlement was made in the 
county they had been almost exterminated. In the spring of 
1872 I saw two beavers that had just been caught in the Bufifalo 
River, in the western part of the county, by a French half-breed, 
whose name was Antoine Cariljeau and an occasional beaver 
skin was picked up by fur buyers for several years afterwards. 
The timbered portions of Becker County were formerly favorite 
resorts for the beaver. On the smaller streams and ravines and 
natural drains, throughout the forests of the county, the remains 
of their old dams are still existing by the hundred. For several 
years I was lumbering in the vicinity of the Otter Tail River, 
and had occasion to open up at different times more than 100 
miles of logging roads. These were generally located along the 
channels of the small water courses leading to the Otter Tail 
River, or to the lakes through which it flows. These water courses 
were invariably obstructed by beaver dams at distances varying 
from fifteen to fifty rods apart, according to the amount of fall 
in the channel. The dams were just far enough apart, so that 
when they were full of water it would reach from one dam to the 
other. On some of my roads the greatest part of the work to 
be done was grading through these dams. The best of material 
for the construction of such dams was everywhere abundant. 
The soft mud, and the soft wood trees, such as the balm of Gilead 
and the willow, the alder and the aspen were in great abundance 
in the very localities where most needed. A splendid specimen 
of an old beaver dam is located on the little creek which crosses 
the river road, one mile north of the residence of Samuel Pearce. 
This dam is a few rods below where the road crosses the creek 
in Section 36, Town of Erie. 

The beaver, however, frequently manages to get along with- 
out any dam at all. On streams the size of the Otter Tail 
River, and larger, where the current is slow and the water deep, 
they frequently burrow in the banks of the stream. The entrance 
to their habitation is always under water, but as they dig their 
way into the bank, they always work upwards, establishing their 
place of abode about a foot above the level of the stream. 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 141 

Wherever the nature of the ground will not admit of such a 
dwelling" place, they always build a dam, and in the pond above 
the dam they always build one or more houses or lodges, as 
it may more properly be called, the entrance to which is always 
under water. This is undoubtedly to afiford protection against 
wolves and other wild animals. 

My own personal experience with the bea\er has been out- 
side of Becker County, but they will illustrate the habits and 
peculiarities of the beaver better than I can give them otherwise. 

In the winter of 1862-3, I cut into a beaver's house that stood 
in a pond, made by a beaver dam built across a stream about 
the size of the Buffalo River in the town of Cuba. The house 
was built in about four feet of water, and stood the same dis- 
tance above the water. The pond was covered with ice, three 
or four inches thick, clear and transparent. As I began to chop 
into the wall of the house, three beavers plunged out and into 
the water under the ice and disappeared. It took almost an 
hour to chop through to the interior with a sharp ax, because 
the framework was a complete netting of willow saplings, half 
an inch in diameter, filled in with mud, and the whole mass 
was at that time frozen solid. It would have been impossible 
for a wolf or any other animal to dig through that structure 
at any season of the year. The walls of the house were at least 
one foot thick, the interior was four feet long and three feet 
wide, with a partition through the middle. There was a hole 
through the partition, just large enough for a beaver to pass 
through. The interior was lined with dried grass leaves, and was 
very comfortable, and clean enough for a person to live in. The 
floor under the grass was a foot above the water, smooth and 
hard, and although it was zero weather, the interior of the house 
was warm from the natural heat of their bodies. On one side 
of the partition was a storehouse filled with provisions, which 
consisted of willow sprouts about one-third of an inch in diameter 
and two feet long, the bark of which is their principal food. 
In the other room was a quantity of these sprouts with the 
bark already gnawed off, ready to be dumped into the water before 
bed-time. 

Beaver dams are usually from four to five feet high, and are 
built of brush cut in the summer when in full leaf, interwoven 
with sticks from four to six feet longf and from one to six inches 



142 A Pioneer History of Becker County. • 

in diameter. All of these are filled in with mud as fast as they 
are laid. It is astonishing to see what these animals will accompHsh 
in the way of felling trees, some of which are two feet in diameter. 
The only use they make of trees of this size, however, is to cut off 
the branches to use in the construction of their dams. 

In the summer of 1863, some beavers commenced to build 
a dam across a creek only a few rods below my cabin. I could 
hear them at work every night, and on several occasions, when 
there was a good moon, I crawled down through the brush and 
sat for an hour at a time watching them at work. There ap- 
peared to be four in the colony, and they always worked in 
pairs. One beaver was engaged altogether in cutting down trees. 
The trees were all small ; willow, alder and choke-cherry. He 
would once in a while commence on a choke-cherry, but after 
giving it two or three bites, would make a wry face and leave 
it and commence on a willow or alder. His mate floated the 
sticks and brush to the dam and laid them in their places. The 
other pair were engaged in filling in the brush and woodwork 
with mud. Their work was progressing slowly but surely, until 
the middle of July, when they were overtaken with a dreadful 
disaster. Twelve of us had been at work for ten weeks on a dam, 
a mile above, and when we had raised the water to a height 
of eighteen feet, the dam broke away, causing an immense flood, 
which tore out one end of the beaver dam, so that it was swung 
around and lodged against the bank of the creek, but it did not 
wash away. During the flood, these beavers swam around and 
around in the deep water, diving occasionally and slapping the 
water with their tails as they went down, as if trying to show 
their disgust with the fools who had made them so much trouble. 

Slapping the water with the tail when they dive, is a peculiar 
trait of the beaver. In October, 1862, a man by the name of Howe 
and myself were camping on the banks of a river where there 
was not a white person living within fifty miles in either direc- 
tion. The river was one hundred feet wide at this place, with 
four or five feet of water, a moderate current and alluvial banks, 
five or six feet high, which showed every indication of being 
honeycombed with beaver dens. After sitting around our camp- 
fire until nine o'clock, we took a final look at our horses and then 
went to bed. As soon as everything had become quiet, we 
heard a chug in the water, somethino- like the noise that a 



A I^ioNEKR History (jf Becker County. 143 

stone the size of a man's fist would make when thrown in. This 
was soon followed by another chug-, and then another, and 
another until it seemed as though a whole shower of rocks was 
being rained into the river. My companion was now thoroughly 
frightened, and declared his belief that a hundred Indians were 
on the opposite side of the river, throwing stones at us. We 
got up and went down to the river bank and the noise ceased 
instantly, but we had no sooner retired again than the noise was 
livelier than ever. Howe now seized his saddle and started for 
his horse, with the avowed intention of leaving the place. I 
told him I was sure the noise was made by beavers, but he 
was as sure the noise came from Indians. I told him I had three 
horses to lose to his one, and that, rather than leave in the dark, 
I would sit up and guard the horses, to which he finally agreed. 
I watched about an hour, h\ which time Howe was snoring" sound- 
1\' and the moon had arisen, but the noise in the river had not 
abated one particle. I then crawded on my hands and knees 
through the tall grass to the river bank, where I had an excel- 
lent view of what was going on. The whole surface of the 
river was in a turmoil. The beavers were swimming around 
and diving almost evervwhere. I counted at one time thirteen 
above the water, and it is certain there were forty or fifty within 
two hundred feet of where I lay. 

In the month of December, 1863, I was camped with four 
companions on the right bank of the Missouri River, close to 
where the village of Townsend in Montana is now located. Just 
before dark one night, I went to the river bank after a pail of 
water. During the day a small ice gorge had formed several 
feet high, but the water had mostly settled away through the 
ice. so that I was obliged to walk some distance over the ice- 
drift to get the water. 

When about a rod from the shore, I heard a peculiar sound, 
as if something was being smothered in the ice under my feet. 
I began to dig into the crushed ice and soon came to a live 
beaver, but before releasing him altogether, called to my com- 
panions, who came out and one of them brought a revolver. 
Betwixt my digging and that of the beaver, the ice gorge began 
to give way, but the men all joined hands with me and with 
each other, and the last man caught Ik Id of a tree on the shore. 
By the time the man came wdth a revolver, the ice began to 
move inider our feet, Init we shot the licaver and released him 



144 -^ PioxEER History of Becker County. 

from the ice. By this time, the ice gorge was rapidly going, 
l^ut I hung" on to the beaver and the string of men that reached 
to the tree hung to me, and we were soon pulled safely on 
shore. We ate the beaver for supper that night. Beaver tails 
are very delicious to the taste, like pigs' feet, only there is much 
more of them. A beaver tail is about a foot long and some of 
them are four inches wide, while others are only about three 
inches wide. A beaver with a broad, flat tail always has dull 
inferior teeth, and vice versa, a beaver with strong, sharp teeth 
has a narrow tail, so you will see that some of them are made 
for wood cutters and others are made for handling mortar and 
mud. 

The length of a beaver, head and body included, is about two 
feet. The beaver belongs to the family of rodents, their adz- 
shaped teeth resembling those of the rat or the squirrel. The 
hind feet are very large and broad and are as completely webbed 
as those of a goose. A fair-sized beaver will weigh about thirty 
or thirty-five pounds, gross weight. 

There is at this time, 1905, a colony of beavers in the north- 
eastern part of Becker County, according to the following report, 
by James Nunn, of Ponsford : 

He says : 

Nov. 25th, 1905. A year ago last summer it was reported at Ponsford, 
that beavers were working on Indian Creek, in the town of Two Inlets, and 
out of curiosity, I visited the locality and found a small dam. recently built 
across the stream, just below the bridge on the Ponsford and Boot Lake 
road, which had raised the water about eighteen inches, which satisfied me 
that a colony of beavers had located there. Last summer they extended 
their operations and built another, and a larger dam, above the bridge, 
which raised the water about two feet at that point. The trees used in 
the construction of these dams were from one to six inches in diameter, 
being as large as any that grew just there. 

Deer and bears are quite numerous in that vicinity, and an occasional 
moose is yet found in the northeastern part of Becker County. 



It is said that there is a colony of beavers at work south 
of Shell Lake, near the line between Shell Lake and Carsonville 
Townships. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 145 

SAVANNAH. 

June 5th. 1906. 
The beavers are at work again on the Dinner Creek dam. It is becom- 
ing a serious problem as to whether the beaver had best be trapped, the 
(lam blown ont, or the game and fish commission pay for the flowage. 
They work in a very wary manner and the person who gets sight of them 
must be skillful and patient. This family is supposed to be a part of flie 
state park tribe and we are loth to destroy them. — Detroit Record. 



The Muskrat. 



This animal always has been, is now, and undoubtedly for 
years to come will continue to be found in Becker County in 
great numbers. 

There are but few farms, or but few quarter sections of land 
in the country, that have not within their borders one or more 
"rat" ponds or lakes, or are in close proximity to them, some 
localities in the Shell Prairie country, alone, excepted. 

One of the dreams and hopes of the boy of ordinary ambition 
is to become a trapper and a hunter, and where is the boy born 
and reared in Becker County who has not had the opportunity 
to realize those dreams? As a general thing" they have had a 
chance to trap muskrats to their heart's content, provided, of 
course, that they could procure the traps, and many an honest 
dollar they have earned that way. On more than one occassion, 
also, the rats have been a godsend to a large part of the popula- 
tion, particularly in 1872-73-74-75 when the grasshoppers were 
devastating" the country, as I have related in another article. 

Nearly everybody knows as much about these animals as I 
do, as to how they live both in the water and out, and how they 
build their houses, and obtain their food at the bottom of ponds 
and lakes. They always breed and rear their young on dry land. 
In the winter and spring of 1890, I had a lot of railroad ties 
piled u]) at dififerent places on the shores of Height of Land 
Lake. In the spring, when removing one of these piles of ties 
into the lake, preparatory to floating them down the river, we 
found a mtiskrat nest under the ties. There were five yoimg 
rats in the nest, al^out the size of chipmunks, and I gathered 
up a handful, four I think, and ptit them into the pocket of my 
rubber raincoat and buttoned them in. I then went up to the 
house of Mr. Simon ^^^aite, where I was boarding, and began 



146 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

to take the rats out of my pocket to show them to the old lady. 
By this time however, the youngsters were not so docile as thev 
were when 1 picked them up, for as soon as I put iii}' hand 
in my pocket, the young rascals grabbed me by the fingers with 
their teeth and hung on for dear life. I pulled ni}- hand out 
with rats lianging to three fingers and a thumb, and I could 
not shake them ofif, but they kept on biting. Finally with the 
assistance of Airs. AA^aite, I chocked the little villains, one at a 
time, until they let go. I then told her she might ha\'e the 
rats for ])ets, but she fired them out of the house and told 
me I ought to have known l)ettcr than to have had an}'thing 
to do with them. A\'ith the exception of shooting a few, this 
is all the experience I ever had with muskrats. 



The Porcupine. 

The porcupine is occasionally found in Becker County. It 
is a good, solid, plump animal, a little larger than a raccoon, and 
will measure about three feet long from tip to tip, of which the 
tail is about six inches. They do not belong to the same natural 
famil\- as the raccoon, skunk, badger, opossum and the bear, but, 
rather, are allied to the squirrel and the woodchuck, the muskrat 
and the beaver ; having teeth of the rodent or adz-shaped order 
for gnawing hard, tough substances. It is an easy matter in 
the woods to determine when you are in the vicinity of porcu- 
pines, especially in the winter, for they will take the bark slick 
and clean from the tops and upper limbs of trees down, half way 
to the ground. They generally select maple and poplar or tam- 
arack, taking trees from fifteen to thirtv feet high. Most 
people know what the quills of the porcupine are like. About 
three inches in length with very sharp points, with barbs of a 
fine texture pointing backwards, that permit the quills to work 
inwards, but they are extremely difificult to extricate. 

When 1 lived on my homestead at ( )ak Lake, in Detroit 
Township, my dog tackled a porcupine one day and got decidedly 
the worst of it. He came home with his mouth full of quills, 
some of them were run through his tongue, others were run 
through his nose and the ends were sticking out on each side, 
and some were stuck completely through his under jaw. He 
was a large, powerful Xewfoundland dog, and was decidedly 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 147 

opposed to allowing me to meddle with the quills. 1 finally 
got him down on his back and pinned him down by running 
a pitchfork into the ground with the tines astraddle his neck, 
in which position he w^as held while I extracted the quills with 
a pair of pincers. 

I have had cattle that had taken a fancy to smell of a hedge- 
hog, and would come home with six or eight quills sticking 
more than half their length in the pad of their nose. These too 
had to be pulled out with pincers. 

The porcupine is clad, in addition to his quills, with a short, 
thin growth of hair, much shorter than the quills in the summer, 
but in winter the quills are outgrown with a luxuriant growth 
of long black hair, somewhat on the furry order, that completely 
hides the quills. It is a mistaken idea that porcupines can throw 
their quills, particularly those of the body. It is possible that 
by giving the proper shake to the tail, a few quills growing on 
that appendage might be thrown for a distance of a foot or two, 
at the season of the year when they are shedding heir quills. 

They are expert climbers, and they invariably live in hollow 
trees. Many a time I have tracked them to a hollow tree when 
a boy, on a thawing day, in the winter, and would cut the tree 
down and drive them up some other tree that had no hole 
for them to get into, and then shoot them on i)urpose to see 
them fall and tumble to the ground. 

In the summer of 1893, I was looking over Section i. Town 
of Grand Park, with a view to cutting off the pine timber the 
ensuing winter. I was traveling along the road cut out for 
hauling hay, when I came across a porcupine that was traveling 
along the road in the same way that I was going. He was 
quite tame, in fact a little too tame to suit my fancy, but I did 
not wish to kill him, as I felt interested in seeing all such 
harmless animals thrive in the country. At the same time, he 
was so tame and friendly that I was not inclined to go off and 
leave him. I drove him along the trail ahead of me for awhile 
guiding him with a pole. He finally got so that he wanted to 
keep close to me, but he went too slow, and I did not fancy 
his quills, so I went off and left him. 

The next winter, when cutting the pine in that vicinity, my 
men came across him and his mate, both comfortablv housed 



148 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

inside large, hollow pine trees, separately, but both were killed b_\- 
the falling of the trees. 



The Woodchuck. 



This animal is quite common in Becker County. In some 
parts of the United States it is called the ground-hog. It is a 
burrowing animal, digging its own hole and hibernating during 
the winter and coming out fat in the spring. This is a coarse- 
haired animal, having no fur in its covering to tempt the trapper, 
but is sometimes caught for its hide, of which whip lashes are 
made of a superior quality. A single hide will make a good 
lash six feet in length. Nearly everybody in Becker County 
has seen a woodchuck either here or in some other part of the 
United States. A full grown animal is twenty inches or more in 
length, of which the tail is four or five inches. They are usually of a 
brown color, but occasionally one is found of a jet black. In 
western New York, where they are much more numerous than here, 
about one in every twenty or thirty is black. I once found a 
woodchuck on Section 26, in Lake V^iew Township, as black as 
a coal. It ran into the hollow of a standing oak tree, and I 
fastened it in by blocking up the entrance with chunks of wood 
and limbs of trees, intending to take it home with me when I 
came back, but I did not come back that way. The woodchuck 
is a poor climber, and is never known to go far up a tree, but 
can easily climb a fence or a wood-pile. 



The Common Gray or Barn Rat. 

The common barn rat cuts a very important figure in the 
affairs of the ordinary farmer in some parts of the United States. 

For many years after Becker County began to settle up, 
we congratulated ourselves over the fact that we had, as we 
believed, made our everlasting escape from those pests of the 
barn and farm house, that had made life a burden during our 
younger days in some of the older states. 

We were free to admit that our lot had been cast in a cold 
country, in a country where winter reigned supreme five months 
in the vear, more or less, but we felt that we had left behind 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 149 

us enough that was disagreeable and annoying, to offset the 
discomforts or our winter chmate to a great extent and in various 
ways. The ground was covered with snow in the winter which 
afforded us good sleighing on which to do the heavy work, instead 
of being obliged to plod around in the mud. The extreme cold 
killed all the malaria in the air and the water, so that we were 
not subject to fevers or chills, it also killed the germs of the 
little bug or worm that invariably infected the peas and some- 
times the beans, making them wormy in the states farther 
south, and last but not least, we had left the old gray rat so 
far behind us that he could never overtake us during our life- 
time, and if he did, he could never withstand the rigors of our 
northern climate, but would invariably perish during the first 
winter season. 

But woe to our dreams of fancied security and delight ; it 
is true that we enjoyed twenty-five years of immunity from their 
annoyance, but an evil day finally dawned upon us. Our fond 
hopes proved after all to be but empty dreams, for slowly but 
surely the rats have been on our trail during all these long 
years, following us up with an unerring instinct and have over- 
taken us at last. 

A\'hen they first put in an appearance in the county it is 
difficult to say, but the first time I remember seeing them was 
about the year 1897. They were quite numerous and aggressive 
around Frazee about that time. How they came, whether by 
rail, by wagon or on foot, is a matter of uncertainty ; we only 
know they came. They do not appear quite so numerous in 1905, 
as they were at first. It has been intimated that the extremely 
cold winter of 1903 and 1904 reduced them to some extent. 

But there are rats yet left in Becker County, so I will give 
a little of my experience with these animals, and a brief de- 
scription. 

An ordinary barn rat is about eight inches in length, exclusive 
of the tail, which is six inches long and about one-fourth of an 
inch in diameter, and entirely naked. Their color is a dark blue 
when young, but they become gray with age. 

In some of the older states, fifty or sixty years ago, manv 
of the barns were literally overrun with rats. We killed 
scores of them every year, but they did not appear to get anv 
less in numl^ers. They may have found some way by which 



150 A PioxKKR History of Bkcker County. 

they have been able to diminish their numbers since, but if they 
have, I never heard of it. My father had a barn thirty by forty 
feet in extent, and in one corner of the barn was a granary about 
twelve feet square, which he kept well filled with wheat and oats 
during the winter season. The rats would gnaw a hole into this 
granary every winter and help themselves to the grain. During 
the winter of 1849-50 they became unusually numerous and 
troublesome, and my brother, C. P. Wilcox and myself decided 
to make war on this community of rats. We accordingly pro- 
vided ourselves with a lantern, and each armed with a club we 
proceeded to the barn about nine o'clock one evening. They 
had gnawed a hole through a corner of the granary door at 
the top, and the noise from the inside denoted considerable 
activity among the animals within. 

We quietly opened the door, stepped inside, closed the door 
behind us as quicklv as possible and plugged up the hole in the 
door. We then went after the rats with our clubs, hitting them 
right and left with telling effect. There must have been about 
forty of them in that little room and when they found their onl\- 
avenue of escape was cut off, they became desperate and began 
to show fight. They came at us half a dozen at a time, and after 
being bitten several times we were glad to open the door and get 
out. We killed fourteen rats that evening and about as many 
more the two nights following. After that they would invariably 
make a rush for the door as soon as it was opened and rush out. 

They burrowed in tlie hay-mow during the winter months. 
cutting tunnels through the solid hay. twenty or more feet in 
length, with chambers leading in various directions, insuring 
warm and comfortable quarters for themselves during the winter. 

I have known from fifty to seventy-five of these rats to be 
killed in a single evenins;^ in the manner outlined above. 



The Black and Gray Squirrel. 

I am not aware that there were any black or gray squirrels in 
Becker Count}- before the coming of the white settlers. I be- 
lieve that zoologists have decided that the gray and black squirrels 
are one and the same species, but I am hardly reconciled to the 
theory. 



A PioxivKK llisTdin- oi- Becker Countv. 151 

According to the best of my knowledge, they have been coming 
to Becker County in about equal numbers, the first coming about 
1878. Unfortunately, however, they manage to get killed off about 
as fast as they come, so I am afraid they will never become very 
numerous. 

These squirrels are certainly very interesting and beautiful ani- 
mals, and it is a pity, they cannot be let alone a few years, and given 
a chance to get a foothold in the county. 

Fifty years ago black squirrels were very plentiful in Western 
New York, and there would usually be about twenty black squirrels 
to one gray one. During those same times, in Ohio, the conditions 
were reversed, and there would be about twenty gray squirrels to 
one black one, while in Michigan they were about equally divided. 

Once in Western New York when they were very abundant, I 
saw a black squirrel, a grey squirrel and a white squirrel, all up 
in the same tree and they were all about the same size. It was the 
only white squirrel I ever saw or heard of. I could easily have 
killed it, but only tried to catch it alive and failed. As would nat- 
urally be supposed, it was a shining mark for the men and boys 
with guns in the neighborhood, and was shot a day or two after I 
saw it. 

Occasionally there would be a year when squirrels would pass 
through those states in large numbers. They never appeared to be in 
a hurry and generally would linger through the entire season. They 
would climb the houses, the barns, the shade trees in the dooryards 
and along the highways, and the fruit trees in the orchards. They 
were killed by both men and boys in large numbers, and thev were 
considered the best eating of any game in the country. 

The following from the Indianapolis Journal, of Sept. 17th. 1905, 
gives a good account of these S(|uirrels in Indiana vears ago : 

For more than fifty years after Indiana was first settled, the slaughter 
of wild animals went on without any restriction. 

There was some excuse for killing squirrels, for they were a pest in 
early times, being great thieves of seed corn and green corn. More than a 
dozen different varieties were indigenous to the United States, but the best 
known was the common gray or migratory squirrel. It was called 
migratory on account of the long journeys it sometimes made. Occa- 
sionally, for reasons of their own, probably in search of food, these squirrels 
used to migrate from one part of the country to another in great numbers. 
Once started on one of these migrations, neither mountains nor rivers 
could stop them, and they devoured ever3'thing eatable that came in 
their wav. 



152 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Audubon describes one which he witnessed: "It was in 1819, when we 
were descending the Ohio river in a flatboat, chiefly with the intention of 
seeking for birds then unknown to us. About 100 miles below Cincinnati, 
as we were floating down the stream, we observed a large number of 
squirrels swimming across the river, and we continued to see them at 
various places until we had nearly reached Sniithland, a town about 100 
miles above the mouth of the Ohio. At times they were strewn, as it 
were, over the surface of the water, and some of them, being fatigued, 
sought a few moments' rest on our long steering oar, which hung into 
the water in a slanting direction over the stern of our boat. The boys 
along the shores and in boats were killing the squirrels in great numbers, 
although most of them got across." 

They were very numerous in the primitive forests of Indiana and 
their depredations were a serious matter for the pioneers. They hid near 
the cornfields, and as soon as the seed corn was covered they began to 
dig for it. Old farmers used to tell how accurately a squirrel would follow 
the row and dig into a hill of corn till he found the grains. Later, when 
the cars began to form, the squirrels attacked them. Some years they 
were worse than others, and the years 1824, 1834 and 1836 are numbered 
as especially bad ones. 

During the squirrel visitation the farmer put forth his utmost efforts 
to protect his crop. The best marksman in the family took the gun, and 
the rest, women and children, rang bells, rattled "horse-fiddles," pounded 
on dead trees and made all sorts of noises. Sometimes a man was paid to 
work one half of the day and shoot squirrels the other half. 

A local historican of Johnson County says: "Mrs. Mollie Owens says 
there were seasons when she could stand in her door and see fifteen or 
twenty squirrels on the fence at any morning hour. James Owens, her 
husband, killed 200 in one day. Jacob Bower shot twenty-six on one 
occasion without moving out of his tracks. William Freeman, without 
rising from his chair at the breakfast table, shot nine from a hill of ripening 
corn in the garden in the front of his cabin door. Thomas Patterson shot 
two from a neighbor's chimney and they fell into the fireplace within." 



The Red Squirrel. 

The small, red, timber squirrel is found in considerable num- 
bers in Becker County, and is more widely distributed throug-hout 
the northern part of the United States than any other animal, being 
found in every state from Maine to Washington, wherever there 
are any groves or forests of timber. It is so well known that it is 
useless to undertake to say anything about the interesting little 
animal, that is not known to people in general. It is bright, cheer- 
ful and harmless, building its habitations, and rearing its young in 
the trees near our homes whenever it can find a hollow large enough 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 153 

for a nest, and frequently in our barns, and even in the chambers of 
our houses. 

When we lived on our homestead at Oak Lake, one of them 
made a nest in an old vinegar keg that stood at the end of our house, 
and that reminds me that once Mrs. Wilcox set a hot custard pie on 
a stump near the house to cool, and before she was fairly back in the 
house, a red squirrel landed on top of the pie with all four of his 
feet. It gave three or four squeals and ran up a tree, jumping 
around among the limbs, chattering, and holding up and shaking 
first one foot, then another, for the space of three or four minutes. 



The Flying Squirrel. 

This animal is occasionally found in Becker County. It is a 
little larger than the common red squirrel and resembles it in gener- 
al appearance, except that it is provided with a membrane or skin, 
connecting and filling the intermediate space between the fore leg and 
the hind leg on each side of the body. This web or membrane is an 
extension of the skin covering the body, and is about an inch in 
width. It cannot be said exactly to fly, but with help of its extended 
legs and the consequent spreading of the membrane connecting the 
fore legs with the hind legs, it can sail from the top of one tree to 
another tree at a considerable distance, rising slightly above its start- 
ing point at the first leap and then gradually inclining downwards, 
using its tail as a rudder, it can land on the ground or on the branch 
of another tree at a distance of from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty feet from the place of starting. There was a family of fly- 
ing squirrels in the grove of timber surrounding my house at Oak 
Lake, in the summer of 1873. They appeared to be easy prey to my 
old cat. When sailing overhead they more resemble the outstretched 
skin or pelt of some small animal than a squirrel. The flying 
squirrel is provided with a fine soft fur, of much finer quality than 
that of any other specie of squirrel in this part of the county. It is 
an expert climber always nesting in hollow trees. 



The Chipmunk. 

Everybody living in the woods of Becker County knows the 
chipmunk, a beautiful little animal with a head and body about six 



154 -^ PioxEKR History of Becker County. 

inches in length and a tail half as long. At lumber camps and at 
houses newly erected in the woods they are quite neighborly, com- 
ing in and making themselves at home, and one time in the fall of 
the year they came near taking possession of my camp. When un- 
molested they become quite tame about a camp, and more than 
once I have had them eat out of my hand. 

They live in the ground and hibernate, although they are fre- 
quently tempted to come out of their wintry home on a warm 
sunnv day. 



The Pocket Gopher. 

Professor Coues sa}s : 

The pocket gopher, as its name indicates, is pro\ided with hirge pouches 
or pockets connecting with its mouth, on each side of its head and neck. 
It has long been a matter of dispute as to wliat the gopher carries in its 
pockets, some people believing that they carry the dirt of which the 
mounds are made that dot the prairies. This I believe to be a mistake, 
as' nothing is ever found in their pockets but food. They have enormous- 
ly large fore parts, and in working under ground, after they have loosened 
the earth, they push it ahead, propelhng themselves along by their hind 
legs, with their head quite buried in the mass of soil. Coming as they 
do up the slanting passage, when they reach the surface they give the 
load of dirt a quick and vigorous flirt, which throws the dirt at some dis- 
tance. The method may be compared to a snow plow, only the dirt is 
pushed ahead instead of being dumped to either side. 

The pocket gopher is a very common animal in l^eckcr County, 
but is the most secretive, and less is known of its domestic af- 
fairs than of any animal in the country. Kverbody knows a gopher 
knoll when he sees it, and when the farmer comes to a shock of 
wheat with the inside all gone, and a stack of loose soil nearly as 
high as the original shock built up in its place, or when he comes 
to six or eight hills in a row of potatoes in which the bottom has 
dropped out, potatoes and all, he knows that a pocket gopher has 
been operating a mine in the neighborhood. 

On the 28th of July, 1886. the Board of Count}- Commissioners 
of Becker County passed a resolution to pay a bounty on gopheis 
and blackbirds, the price set on the heads of gophers being two dol- 
lars per himdred. 

At that meeting or a subsequent one, I do not remember which, 
the question arose as to what should be considered a gopher. There 



A Pioneer History of Bkcker County. 155 

were four farmers on the board at that time, and all four of them 
were unanimous in the opinion that all burrowing animals of the 
squirrel tribe should be considered as gophers, and although this 
decision was not placed on record it w^as the understanding that the 
scalps of all pocket gophers, gray gophers, speckled gophers and 
chipmunks should be paid for at the rate of $2.00 a hundred. 
Whether this ruling was adhered to, for any length of time or not. 
I do not know, as I left the auditor's office at the close of the year, 
but judging from the amount of money recpiired to pay the sub- 
sequent bounties, there must have been a general slaughter of all 
four of the species of animals named above. 

The following is from the Detroit Record of March 28th, 1889: 

The county commissioners yesterday voted to discontinue the payment 
of gopher and blackljird bounties in this county. The effort to exter- 
minate these Httle pests has thus far cost the county about $5,000, and a 
decrease in the number is scarcely perceptible. 

Of the $5,000 referred to about $2,500 was paid out for gopher 
bounties, which means that about 125,000 of these little animals 
must have been slaughtered in less than three years in this county. 

^^^ J. ]\lorrow, who was count}- auditor during nearly all of this 
bounty paying period, estimates that the above figures are approx- 
imately correct and that at least 125,000 animals belonging to the 
gopher family were slaughtered during that time. 



The Gray Gopher. 

The gray gopher, or ground squirrel, as it is sometimes called, is 
very common in 15ecker County. They are nearly as plentiful now 
as they were when the country first began to settle up. They are 
not as destructive to grain fields and gardens as the pocket goph- 
er, and when given a chance the}- l)ecome (piite tame. 

In the month of September, 1871, I was camped at the north end 
of the lake that reaches up across Section 6, in Lake Park Town- 
ship, and for several days I was there all alone, doing m\- own cook- 
ing. Among other things I used considerable corn starch which I 
made into a kind of pudding. 

A gray gopher was living in a hole only a few feet frt)m my tent 
and it was not long before he began to show a disposition to get 
acquainted, and to pick up the bits of corn starch pudding that 



156 A PioxEKR History of Bkcker County. 

fell from the table. In a da}^ or two he became so tame that he 
would take lumps of pudding from my hand the same as a kitten, 
only with this difference, that as soon as he had swallowed two or 
three mouthfuls, he would invariably break and run for his hole. 
He would never stay under ground however more than a minute, 
when he would come back and hunt around for more pudding. On 
one occasion he w^ent through the rounds of swallowing the pudding, 
running into his hole and back to the tent again, five or six times, 
until he finally got so full that he could squeeze himself into the 
ground no longer, but stuck fast in the hole. I pulled him out and let 
him go. He was aroimd again the next day, when I made a noose 
on the end of a string, which I placed over the hole, and when he 
came out I pulled on the string and caught him around the body 
and pulled him out, and kept him tied up for a few hours. This 
however did not affect his appetite in the least, for he ate all the 
pudding he could find during his confinement. I moved away that 
day and turned him loose, but he was still hunting the ground over 
for something to eat when I came awav. 



The Speckled Gopher. 

The speckled gopher is very common on all the prairies of Beck- 
er County. Every school-boy on the prairie knows the little animal 
that stands by its hole on its hind feet as straight as a picket, with 
its fore legs hanging by its side, and when alarmed, or its curiosity 
satisfied drops into its burrow so quickly and silently you hardly 
miss him, and in less than a minute bobs up again almost as sud- 
denly as he disappeared. 



The Field Mouse. 



Everybody knows the common field mouse. It is an irritable, 
pugnacious little creature, standing up on its hind legs and fighting 
for itself against its enemies at great odds. 



The Wood Mouse or Deer Mouse. 

The wood mouse is a pretty little animal, three or four inches 
in leno-th, with a tail a little less. It is of a buff' or fawn color, darker 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 157 

along- its back, with its under parts pure white. It is sometimes 
called the deer mouse or white-footed mouse. Their natural home 
is in hollow trees, where thev store away acorns and hazel nuts for 
the winter, divesting them of the shuck or shell before putting 
them away. Many a time in the older states I have cut down trees 
in which I found two or three quarts of beech nuts already peeled 
by these little creatures, and which we always greedily appropriated 
to our own use. They frequently make their nests in the house of 
some settler, where they make bad work destroying clothing, as 
they never discriminate between your old clothes and your Sunday 
suit, being equally as liable to chew up and appropriate one as the 
other, when it comes to making their nest. We had a family of 
them in the grove on our homestead at Oak Lake, and they made us 
a lot of trouble. 



The House Mouse. 

This little rodent, with a head and body not much larger than 
your thumb, is quite a factor in the animal kingdom. It is said to 
be a foreigner, smuggling itself into this country on shipboard from 
Europe, nearly two hundred years ago. It certainly has improved 
its time and opportunities, for it has kept pace with civilization, and 
there is scarcely a family household in America that has not its quota 
of these little "varmints." It is the pest of housewives and house- 
maids, who keep up a constant warfare against it with a hostile array 
of cats, traps, brooms and rat poison. Yet it does not seem to di- 
minish in numbers. It is a terror to them, whether dead or alive, for 
a single mouse running across the floor will stampede a whole room- 
ful of women as effectually as if a coyote or a wild-cat had been 
turned loose in the room. Some of them are brave and skillful 
trappers of the little beast, but their trouble only just begins when 
he is caught, for they generally have to call one of the boys to take 
the mouse out of the trap. There is no danger of the species ever 
becoming extinct. 



The Jumping Mouse. 

This interesting little animal is one of the smallest of the four- 
footed beasts of Becker Countv. It is found in meadows and low 



158 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

places, living- in thick, heavy grass throughout the country but is 
not very plentiful. 

It has some of the characteristics of the kangaroo ; inasmuch as 
it travels by jumping with its hind feet. When alarmed it starts 
off in a succession of astonishing leaps, making eight or ten feet 
at a jump, using only its hind legs, but when not in a hurry it walks 
on all fours like any other animal. 

This tiny creature is about three inches long, head and body, 
and its tail is nearly twice as long as both. It has light fore-quar- 
ters, strong hind-quarters, and very long hind legs. 

If a mouse weighing an eighth of a pound can jump eight feet, 
how far ought a dog weighing ten pounds to jump? 



The Mole. 



The mole is too well known to require an extensive description. 
It is about two and a half inches long, with a short tail and power- 
ful fore parts especially adapted to digging. 

The fur is thick and soft, lying with ecfual ease backwards as 
well as forwards. 

The eyes are very small and covered with a membrane, and in- 
vestigation shows that the eye is much degenerated, and of but lit- 
tle use as an organ of sight. Moles are subterranean in their habits, 
and live exclusively on animal food. All kinds of worms, grubs 
and caterpillars are readily eaten, and in captivity, meat, small birds 
and even other moles are greedily devoured. Their limbs, although 
short, are capable of very rapid movements, and wdien in quest of 
their food, moles frequentl}- travel long distances underground so 
near the surface that the earth becomes raised u]:» above the tunnel 
which it makes. 

Moles generally dwell in underground encampments built by 
themselves of mud and clay, which, when c()m])lete(l and dried out, 
become hard and water-proof. These little camps arc usuall\- call- 
ed mole hills. 



A r'lONEER History uf Becker County. 159 



Chapter VIII. 

LIST OF BIRDS OF BECKER COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 

Compiled isy Trios. S. Roberts, M. D. 

DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS, MINN. NAT. HIST. SURVEY. 

Becker County, lying as it does between the great forest region 
of northwestern Minnesota and the treeless plains to the westward, 
is ideally situated for presenting within its boundaries a great 
variety of bird life. The western one-third of the county is rolling 
prairie, sloping from elevations of 1400 to 1500 feet along the 
forest border, toward the Red River Valley in the tier of counties 
adjoining it on the west. This, with several isolated areas of 
prairie in the forests farther east, provides congenial homes for a 
large number of prairie loving birds. Among these are a few 
species belonging more appropriately to the high Cotcau regions 
of North Dakota, as, for example, the Lark Bunting, Sprague's 
Pipit, Chestnut-colored Longspur, Burrowing Owl and several oth- 
ers. The remaining two-thirds of the county are more or less 
thickly covered with forest. Pine trees, spruces and fir balsams 
are found throughout much of this area. Deciduous trees of 
many species are abundant or predominate in the southern and cen- 
tral portions of the county, but in the northeastern quarter the 
forest becomes more distinctly coniferous and both the fauna and 
the flora present the typical Canadian aspect. Thus there is 
presented in the timbered regions of the county a diversity of con- 
ditions which attracts almost all the avian forest dwellers of the 
state. 

The prairies and forests of Becker County are diversified by over 
88,000 acres of water in the form of lakes and ponds and many 
streams. Thus an immense number of aquatic birds here find con- 
genial surroundings and ample opportunity to disport themselves, feed 
and raise their young. With the advent of man and the inevitable 
and largely unavoidable destruction of primitive conditions, there 
has been a widespread and wholesale diminution in the numbers 
of the water birds, extending in some instances to almost the en- 
tire disappearance of species once conspicuous features of the 
bird life. Some of these birds, as the swans, geese, pelicans, cur- 
lews, avocet and godwits cannot live in the wild state in associa- 



i6o A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

tion with civilized conditions an}- more than could the buffalo, 
antelope or elk, and there is no hope that they will ever again be 
restored to the old places where they were once so abundant. A 
few have left their names attached to lakes and rivers, as empty 
reminders of their early occupancy of the land. 

The following list of birds of Becker County has been com- 
piled from information in the possession of the Minn. Nat. Hist. 
Survey derived from several sources. In the early eighties Prof. 
W. W. Cook, now connected with the Biological Survey, Washington, 
D. C, was stationed at White Earth Agency and collected much 
information in regard to the bird life of that locality, which has 
found its way into print in several connections, particularly in 
his well known "Migration of Birds in the Mississippi Valley." In 
1883, Mr. Foster H. Brackett, of Massachusetts, who died a few 
years ago, prepared an annotated list of birds observed about De- 
troit in the month of May of that year. This list was published in 
the Otiartcrly Journal of the Boston Zoological Society, Vol. II, 
1883. The writer spent nine weeks in the summer of 1902 study- 
ing the birds of the Lake Itasca region, immediately adjoining the 
northeastern corner of Becker County, and the information there 
obtained applies equally well to the evergreen forests of the coun- 
ty under consideration. The data from these three sources have 
been used, supplemented by safe inferences from what is known 
of the general distribution of our birds. In this manner a list 
has been prepared which will, it is hoped, give to the general 
reader a fair idea of the bird life of Becker County. To the 
bird student, who may have opportunity to give close attention 
to the subject it will at least provide a basis for future more exact 
annotation. 

Total number of species of birds occurring in Becker County. 262 

Water birds occurring in Becker County 83 

Land Birds occurring in Becker County 179 

Summer Residents (Breeding birds) 158 

Migrants only 53 

Winter Visitants 17 

Permanent Residents 18 

Accidental 13 

Extinct 2 



A PioNEi^R History of Becker County. i6i 

I. Western Grebe {Aechuwphorus occidentalis.) 

A western species, probably occurring occasionally in the 
lakes and marshes. 
2. HoldoEi^l's Grebe, Red-necked Grede (Colyinbus holbccllii) 
Undoubtedly breeds in colonies in the marshy bays of the 
larger lakes, as it does in Grant County and at Leech 
Lake. 

3. Horned Grebe {Colymhtis miritus). 

To be looked for chiefly spring and fall in open water. 

4. Eared Grebe (Colymbus nigricoUis calif ornicus). 

A western species, breeding in colonies in marshes and 
sloughs. 

5. PiED-BiLLED Grebe, Dabchick, "Hell-diver" (Podilymbus 

podiceps). 
The common species of grebe, breeding abundantly in 
all shallow lakes and sloughs. The grebes all construct 
floating nests of water-soaked, decayed vegetation, deposit- 
ing the oval-shaped, much stained eggs in a shallow de- 
pression in the top. In the absence of the parent bird 
the eggs are covered with wet material and it is gener- 
ally thought that incubation is partly accomplished by 
the action of the sun upon this mass of damp vegeta- 
tion. 

6. LooN, Great Northern Diver {Urinator imbcr) . 

A common and well-known bird. The two large olive- 
gray, black-spotted eggs are usually deposited in a de- 
pression on an old muskrat house on the edge of open 
water. 

The Black-throated and Red-throated Loons, high north- 
ern species, may occasionally occur in early spring and 
late fall. 

7. Herring Gull {Larus argcntatus) . 

This is the large white gull commonly seen spring and 
fall, flying over the larger lakes. It breeds farther north. 

8. Ring-billed Gull (Lams dclazvarcnsis.) 

A smaller gull similar to the last. 

9. Franklin's Gull (Lams franklimi). 

The only gull found during the summer months. It breeds 
in colonies in sloughs and marshy lakes. The farmers 
call it the "Prairie Dove" and it may often be seen fol- 



i62 A PioxKKR History of Becker County. 

lowing the "breaking ploughs," picking up the grubs and 
worms as they are turned up by the plough-share. 

ID. Bonaparte's Gull (Lariis Philadelphia). 

Similar to the last in size and general appearance. A 
migrant, spring and fall, breeding in the far north. Often 
seen in great tiocks late in the fall. 

11. Caspian Tern {Sfcnia caspia). 

To be looked for as an uncommon migrant. 

12. Forster's Tern (Sterna forsfcri). 

A summer species, breeding in the sloughs and marshy 
ponds in company with Black Terns. This bird with its 
black cap, pearl gray mantle, long. forked tail, and snowy 
white under parts, well merits the name of "Sea Swal- 
low," sometimes applied to the Terns. 

The Common and Least Terns may occasionally occur 
but are imperfectly known as Minnesota birds. 

13. Beack Tern {Hydrochclidon nii^ra siiriiiainciisis) . 

An abundant and, in the breeding season, noisy bird, nest- 
ing everywhere in sloughs and wet marshes. It constructs 
a rather neat but frail nest of fine stems on floating 
vegetation and lays from two to four dark, spotted, strong- 
ly i)yriform eggs, similar in appearance to those of most 
Terns. The black body-plumage of the adult bird ren- 
ders it very unlike its snow-white relatives, in appearance. 

14. DouiiLE-CRESTED CoRMoRANT, "Black Loon" (Phahicrocorax 

dilophiis) . 
A common bird, congregating in certain localities where 
they build their nests in the tops of trees or on the ground, 
usually on islands in large lakes. It has rapidly decreased 
in numbers of late years. Cormorant Lake in the south- 
western part of the County derived its name from the 
presence in former years of a colony of these birds. 

15. White Pelican {Pclccaiiiis cryfhrorhyiichos) . 

This large bird, — formerly abundant, nesting on the 
ground in colonies, — is now greatly reduced in nvmibers, 
occurring chiefly in small wandering companies. 

16. American Merganser. Sheldrake, ( Merganser aiiierieaiiiis). 

Probably appears chiefly as a migrant spring and fall. 



A PioxiviiR History of IjKcker County. 163 

17. Red-bkKasted Merganser (Merganser serrator). 

May be looked for as a breeding bird as well as migrant. 
Nest on ground near water. 

18. Hooded Merganser. "Fisb Duck,"" "Saw-bill."" (Lof^Jiodyfes 
eiicnllafiis). 

A common duck, nesting in bollow trees. Remains late 
in the fall, often in rapid places in streams, when all still 
water is frozen over. A beautiful bird but the flesh usually 
"fishy" and indifferent eating. 

19. Mallard, "Green-head" (Anas bosehas). 

Breeding commonly in marshes and sloughs, especially in 
the prairie portions of the county. This, like all the ducks, 
has been reduced deplorably in numbers of late years. 
Still an abundant migrant spring and fall. 

The Black ^Mallard, or Dusky Duck, probably occurs spar- 
ingly during migrations. 

20. Gadwall, Gray Duck (Cliaiilelasimis sfrepenis) . 

Common, breeding ; similar to Mallard in its summer hab- 
its. 

21. Baldpate, American Widgeon (Marcca anierieaini). 

Not very common, breeds. 

22. GrEEn-wingEd Teal (A'eftion earoliiieiisis) . 

Common spring and fall, but for the most part breed- 
ing further north. 
27^. Blue-winged Teal (Oucrquediila discors). 

An abundant bird in all suitable localities, nesting com- 
monly about marshes and ponds. 

The western Cinnamon Teal may occur occasionally as 
a rare straggler. 

24. Shoveller. Spoon-bill (Spatula rlypeafa.) 

Common, breeds. Usually light in weight and a poor 
duck for the table. 

25. Pintail, "Sprig-tail"" {Daflla aeiifa). 

A common early spring and fall migrant, appearing in 
large flocks ; breeding less numerously in the prairie por- 
tion of the County. 

26. Wood Duck [Ai.v spoiisa). 

This gorgeously colored and valuable duck is rapidly 
decreasing in numbers everywhere with the advent of civ- 
ilization. The Wood Duck, as its name implies, is partial 



164 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 

to the streams and ponds of woodlands. It builds its nest 
in a cavity in a tree, often at a considerable distance from 
water. 

27. Redhead (Aythya amcricana) . 

Common, breeding in the sloughs and around the edges 
of marshy lakes in the more open portions of the county. 

28. Canvas-back {Aythya raUisncria). 

A less common breeder, but numerous spring and fall. 
This and the last species are fond of the wild celery and 
congregate in the fall in great flocks on lakes where this 
plant is abundant. 

29. Greater Scaup Duck, Large Blue-bill (Aythya marila) . 

Found spring and fall, but less commonly than the next 
species. 

30. Lesser Scaup Duck, Blue-bill (AytJiya affiiiis). 

Abundant spring and fall, furnishing a considerable part 
of the late pass-shooting. Breeding sparingly about 
marshy lakes. 

31. Ring-necked Duck, "Black Duck" (Aythya collaris). 

A common and valuable duck, breeding in the marshes 
and appearing as a migrant in great numbers spring and 
fall. In size and appearance very like the Lesser Scaup, 
but the wing patch, or speculum, is bluish gray instead 
of white as in the Scaup. 

32. Golden-eye. Whistle-wing (Claiigiila clangiila amcricana). 

Nowhere common ; found chiefly about the larger lakes 
and along rivers. Xests in a hollow tree. 

A northern species, Barrow's Golden-eye, may occasion- 
ally occur during winter along rivers where the water 
flows too rapidly to freeze. 

33. BuFFLE-iiEAD, "Butter-ball" (Charitonctta albcohi). 

Frequent spring and late fall, preferring open water. 
May occasionally breed ; nests in hollow trees. 

34. White-winged Scoter (Oidemia deglandi). 

This and its two congeners, the American and Surf 
Scoter, are chiefly birds of the sea-coasts and high north- 
ern regions, but are occasionally found in the interior and 
an individual belonging to this group may now and then 
be taken spring or fall or even during the winter months 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 165 

where there chances to be open water. They are of Httle 
or no value as game birds. 

35. Ruddy Duck (Bris)Jiatnra jamaicensis). 

This curious little cluck with its spike-like tail is a com- 
mon bird in reedy, marshy lakes, and nests commonly 
about their margins, floating its bulky nest among the 
rushes and cat-tails. It is an expert diver and generally 
adopts this method of escape when hard pressed, after 
the manner of grebes. 

36. Lesser Snow^ Goose, White Brant {Chen hypcrborea) . 

Formerly an abundant species in the prairie regions, ap- 
pearing from the north in late fall in vast flocks ; now, 
much reduced in numbers. 

The Blue Goose {Chen ca:rnlescens) may occur as a 
straggler during migration. 

37. White-fronted Goose {Anser alhifrons gonibeli). 

An arctic-breeding species that may occur rarely during 
migrations. 

38. Canada Goose, "Honker" (Branta canadensis). 

A common migrant spring and fall and formerly a reg- 
ular breeder in the prairie regions, but now rarely, if ever, 
found during the summer. 

The Hutchin's Goose and the Cackling Goose, varieties 
of the Canada Goose, probably occur during the spring 
and fall migrations. The true Brant {Branta hernicla) 
is rarely if ever found in Minnesota, despite the many 
records to the contrary. The Snow Goose is so universally 
known among sportsmen by the name of Brant, that it 
has led to much confusion in statements regarding these 
birds. 

39. Whistling Swan {Olor colnmhianus) . 

40. Trumpeter Swan {Olor buccinator). 

Of these two species the Whistling Swan breeds in the 
far north and is only found in Minnesota during migra- 
tions and is then an uncommon bird. 

The Trumpeter Swan formerly bred commonly from 
Iowa northward, as evidenced by the many bodies of water 
named after this bird. Now few, if any, remain to breed 
within our territory. Small parties of the latter species are 
still to be found, however, during the migratory seasons. 



i66 A PioxJiivK History of Becker County. 

41. American Bittern (Botcmnis Iciifiginosiis). 

A common bird of marsh and lake side. Familiarly known 
by the names of Stake-driver, Shite-poke, Thunderpump. 
etc. 

42. Least Bittern (Ardctta c.vilis). 

This slender, curious little bird is common among the 
rank growth of the marshes, especially among the quill- 
reeds ; but its elusive habits result in its being little known. 

43. Great Blue Heron (Ardca hci-odias). 

A common bird about the shores of lakes and along the 
banks of streams. Nests in colonies in the tops of tall 
trees, often in company with Cormorants. This bird is 
popularly known by the name of "Crane ;" but, though 
it has long legs and a long neck, it belongs to a different 
family from the Cranes proper. 

44. Beack-crowned Night Heron {Nycticorax nycticorax 

nocvins) . 

Ma}^ possibly occur in Becker County, but the locality is 

rather far north for this species. 

45. Whooping Ckaxe (Cms aiiicricaiia) . 

A migrant, spring and fall, now becoming rare. 

46. Sandhill Crane (Gnis Mcxicaiia). 

Once a very common bird, breeding in the great prairie 
marshes, but now chiefly a migrant. Usually seen and 
heard flying high overhead. 

47. King Rail (Rallns clcgans). 

Possibly a rare summer resident. 

48. A'iRGiNiA Rail (Ralhis 7 irgiiiiaints) . 

49. Carolina Rail, Sora (Porcaiia caroUiia). 

This and the preceeding species are the common Rail birds 
of the marshes, the Sora, however, far out-numbering the 
larger and longer-billed Virginia Rail. The Sora remains 
until the marshes freeze in the Fall, when they disappear 
in a night as if by magic. 

50. Yellow Rail {Poraaiia noz'choracciisis). 

Prof. W. W. Cooke has seen this little Rail once at White 
Earth Agency in the latter part of June, which would indi- 
cate it as a breeding bird. On account of the dense marshy 
growth, which it frequents, and its indisposition to take 



A TioxEEK History oi'^ Bkckur County. 167 

wing when disturbed, it is not easy to observe and may be 
long overlooked where it is not uncommon. 

51. CooT, Mud-hen (fiilica atncricana). 

An abundant and well-known bird, breeding in great 
numbers in sloughs and marshy lakes. 

The Florida Gallinule (Galliinila galcala) may occasion- 
ally occur in similar surroundings, though it is naturally a 
more southern bird. The red bill and frontal shield will 
distinguish it from the Coot, in which the bill is white 
with brown shield. The Gallinule, in habits, is more like 
a Rail than a Coot. 

52. Wilson's Piialarope (StCL!;aiiopiis tricolor). 

This gentle, graceful bird is a common summer resident on 
the prairie meadows. Contrary to the usual custom, the 
female Phalarope is the gay-colored member of the family, 
and leaves the incubation of the eggs and care of the 
young to her plainly-colored mate. 

Another species, the Northern Phalarope, probably occurs 
as a rare migrant. 

53. AvocET (Rcciiri irostra amcricaiia). 

Formerly a breeding bird throughout the prairie regions 
of Minnesota, now of rare occurrence. 

54. Woodcock {Philohela minor). 

Frequents low, wet woodland. Uncommon. 

55. Wilson's Snipe. Jack Snipe (Gollinago dclicata). 

A common bird in meadows and along tlie marshy borders 
of lakes and streams, especially in spring and fall, a few 
nesting in such localities. 

56. LoNG-iULLED DowiTCiiER,, Red-brcasted Snipe {Macroshaiii- 

pliiis sci^lopaccus) . 
Breeds in the far north ; migrates through our state in 
little flocks, when it is to be found frequenting sloughs or 
marshes. 

57. Stilt Sandpiper (Micropalaina hynioJifopiis). 

A rare migrant. 

58. Knot, Robin Snipe {Triiiga caiiiitiis) . 

May occur as a rare migrant. 

59. Pectoral Sandpiper. Jack Snipe (Triiiga luacnlafa). 

Usually a common migrant. 



i68 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

60. White-rumped Sandpiper (Triiiga fuscicoUis). 

A migrant spring and fall. 

61. Baird's Sandpiper (Triiiga bairdii). 

Sometimes a common migrant found along the sandy 
shores of lakes, often in company with the next species. 

62. Least Sandpiper (Triiiga ininutilla). 

A common bird spring and fall along the shores of lakes 
and streams. Breeds far north. 

63. Red-backed Sandpiper (Triiiga alpiiia paciUca). 

Occasionally found during migration in similar situations 
as the last two and the next species. 

64. Semi-paemated Sandpiper (Brcwictes piisiUns). 

Associates with the Least Sandpiper, which it closely re- 
sembles in most ways, but may be distinguished by the 
webbed base of its toes. 

65. Sanderling (Calidris arcnaria). 

A coast-wise bird, occurring as a rare straggler if at all. 
Has been taken several times in Minnesota. 

66. Marbled Godwit (Liinosa fcdoa). 

Once an abundant and conspicuous summer resident over 
all the prairie regions of Minnesota, but now so reduced 
in numbers as to be almost uncommon. 

67. HuDSONiAN GoDwiT (Liinosa li(riiiastica). 

May occasionally be encountered as a migrant. 

68. Greater Yeeeow-lEGS (Totanus melaiwleucus). 

69. Lesser Yeleow-lEGS (Totamis ftaripcs) . 

Both these long-legged snipe are common and early mi- 
grants and their loud "Tell-tale" cries are well known 
sounds about mud flats and marshy lake-sides. A few are 
to be found during the summer months, but they breed 
almost entirely in the far north. 

70. Solitary Sandpiper (Helodromas solitaries). 

A common migrant found chiefly about ponds and streams 
in wooded regions. A few pass the summer and probably 
nest in such localities. The nest is a rarity and there is 
reason to believe that the eggs are deposited in the deserted 
arboreal nests of other birds. 

71. Western WillET (Symphcmia scmipalinata inornata). 

Once a common summer bird of our prairies, now greatly 
reduced in numbers. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 169 

72. Bartramian Sandpiper, Field Plover, Upland Plover, 

"Onaily" (Bartrainia longicauda) . 

Once one of the most characteristic birds of all our upland 
prairies ; but on account of its palatable flesh and tame and 
unsuspicious nature, together with the destruction of its 
natural habitat for purposes of agriculture, it has been re- 
duced almost to the verge of extermination where it was 
once most abundant. The "passing" of the Upland Plover 
is much to be deplored, and it is doubtful whether it can 
ever be reinstalled, even with the most rigid protection. 

73. Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryugites subruficollis). 

Occasionally encountered during migration in compact 
flocks of many individuals, frequenting the dry prairies in 
the neighborhood of lakes and watercourses. 

74. Spotted Sandpiper, "Tip up," "Teeter" (Actitis inacularia). 

A common summer resident, familiar to everyone as it 
feeds along the sandy shores of our lakes and streams. 

75. LoNG-BiELED Curlew (Numenhis longirostris) . 

The day of this large and conspicuous bird with its long 
curved bill has nearly passed in the settled portions of 
Minnesota. It was once a common summer resident on 
our prairies. 

76. HuDSONiAN Curlew (A^uiiiciiiiis Jiiidsoniits). 

A rare migrant if at all. 
yy. Eskimo Curlew {Nitincnins borcalis) . 

Formerly an abundant migrant over the prairie regions 
of the interior, but now like the Passenger Pigeon, ap- 
parently a bird of the past. The explanation of its singular 
disappearance is not apparent. 

78. Black-belliEd Plover (Sqnatarola squatarola) . 

Sometimes common on upland prairies during migration. 

79. Golden Plover {Charadriiis dominicus). 

A more common species than the last, occurring under 
similar conditions. 

80. KiLLDEER Plover (Aigialitis rocifcra). 

A common and familiar bird, its loud "Kill-dec, Kill-dee, 
Kill-dee" well-known to everybody. 

81. Semi-palmated Plover {JEgialitis semipalrnata). 

Occurs during migration. 



I/O A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

82. Belted Piping Plover (.Jii!;ialifis uicloda circmiiciiicta ] . 

Like the last may be encountered during" migration and 
possibly breeding-. 

83. Turnstone (Arciiaria nioriucUa). 

May be looked for as a very rare migrant. F. H. Brackett 
reports seeing a "bunch of four" near Detroit in Mav, 
18S3. 

84. BoB-WHiTE. Quail (Coliiius zirgiuiaiius). 

Air. D. W. Meeker, of Moorehead, states that this 1)ird 
has of late years become a permanent resident in moderate 
numbers in the southern part of Becker County. This is 
probably the most northern locality for the state. 

85. Canada Grouse, Spruce Partridge {Dc)idrai!;a[^iis cainidciisis). 

Fovuid in the evergreen forests of the county. 

86. RuFEED Grouse, "Pheasant," "Partridge" (Bomisa initbcJIiis 

toi^ato ) . 
A common bird of the forests, disappearing all too rapidly 
with the destruction of its haunts. 

87. Prairie Hen, Pinnated Grouse, Prairie Chicken (Tyiiipanii- 

chus amcricaiiiis ) . 
This bird has extended its range northwestward until it 
is now found in almost all parts of Minnesota, where the 
character of the surface is suited to its wants. It reached 
the western part of Minnesota twenty-five or thirty years 
ago. 

88. Sharp-tailed GrolisE. "Prairie Chicken" [Pcdiocccfcs phasi- 

aiiclliis campcsfris). 
This was the original Prairie Chicken of the western part 
of our state. It is rather more frecjuently found among 
scattered timber and in brushland than the Pinnated 
Grouse. 

89. P.vssENGEK Pigeon, Wild Pigeon (Bctopistcs tiiigraforiiis) . 

Formerly an abundant bird throughout all the wood- 
lands of the state, now probably entirely extinct every- 
where. Brackett reports seeing near Detroit in May. 1883, 
"a few small flocks," and adds that it was "ver}- abundant 
a little later." 

90. Mourning Dove, Carolina Dove (Zoialdiira uiacroiira). 

A common bird, often mistaken, when in flocks, for the 
last species, accounting for some of the reports of the lat- 
ter bird being seen during late years. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 171 

91. Turkey Buzzard, Turkey \'ulture {Cathartcs aura). 

Common. 

92. SwALEOW-TAiLED KiTE (Ehuwidcs forfjcatiis) . 

Occurs as a summer resident in the forest-covered portion 
of the county. A single individual seen by the writer at 
Elk Lake near the northeastern corner of Becker County 
in July, 1902. 

93. Marsh Hawk, Marsh Harrier (Circus hudsouius) . 

A common bird seen hunting low over the marshes and 
prairies. Its food consists largely of meadow mice, frogs, 
snakes and large insects. It is therefore a useful bird and 
should not be thoughtlessly destroyed. 

94. Sharp-shinned Hawk {Accipitcr tcJox). 

This trim little hawk is a summer resident and fair- 
ly common. It is rapid of flight and daring in pursuit 
of its prey. It is powerful for its size and destroys many 
birds and where opportunity offers does much damage 
among young poultry. 

95. Cooper's Hawk {Accipitcr coopcrii). 

Common. Resembling the last species, but decidedly larg- 
er. Often called "Hen Hawk." It works much havoc 
among wild birds and poultry. 

96. American Goshawk (Accipitcr atricapillus) . 

Found chiefly in the winter time, but a few may breed in 
the heavy forests. A large, powerful bird that preys al- 
most entirely upon rabbits, squirrels, grouse, ducks and 
poultry when the opportunity offers. 

This hawk, together with the last two species and the 
Duck Hawk, to be mentioned later, are the outlaws among 
the diurnal birds of prey. They do far more harm in se- 
curmg their chosen quarry, than can be condoned by the 
small amount of good they do in the destruction of in- 
jurious rodents and other animals. In the case of all the 
other hawks the balance is in their favor and they are 
of real benefit to the farmer and are worthy of protec- 
tion even if they do destroy an occasional domestic fowl. 

97. Red-tailed Hawk. "Hen Hawk," "Chicken Hawk" (Butco 

borcalis) . 
This is a common bird, forming the great bulk of the large 
hawks seen during the summer time. It is a valuable allv 



172 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

of the fanner, feeding as it does almost entirely upon 
gophers, squirrels, mice, grasshoppers and other insects 
with a few snakes, lizards and frogs, and, less frequently, 
wild birds and poultry. However, its few harmful deeds 
give it a bad name and it is relentlessly pursued and de- 
stroyed by every poultry raiser, when the real offender is 
usually one of the smaller species mentioned above. 

A light colored variety of this bird, known as Krider's 
Hawk, and a dark western form, known as the Western 
Red Tail, may be looked for as of occasional occurrence. 

98. Red-shouldered Hawk {Biitco lineatus). 

A more southern species probably occurring occasionally 
in the summer time. 

99. Swainson's Hawk, Grasshopper Hawk {Bntco szuaiiisoiiii). 

A common species. This bird feeds almost exclusively on 
striped gophers and mice, grasshoppers and crickets. At 
times it destroys large numbers of locusts and large grass- 
hoppers, which it secures by beating low over the prairie 
and seizing them as they tiy up from the ground. It is 
thus an eminently beneficial bird and should be recognized 
and carefull}- protected. 

100. Broad-winged Hawk (Bntco playptenis). 

A medium sized hawk that rarely kills birds and is dis- 
tinctly of benefit to the agricultural interests. An abundant 
species, 
loi. American Rough-legged Hawk (Arcliibiitco lagopiis saiicti- 
johannis). 

A winter bird, feeding extensively upon mice and other 
small rodents. 

The Ferruginous Rough-legged or Squirrel Hawk, a 
western species, may occasionally occur as a straggler. 

102. Golden Eagle (Aquila chyscutos). 

Chiefly a winter bird in the United States, but Prof. Cooke 
tells us that he has seen them in Becker County, presum- 
ably at White Earth Agency, as late as the first of June ; 
which would seem to indicate that they formerly, if not at 
present, bred in the secluded parts of the county. 

103. Bald Eagle (Haliccfiis Icucocephalus). 

Once rather common. Now restricted to a few pairs, nest- 
ing amid the wildest snrroundings. A pair has nested 



A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 173 

for many years past in a large pine tree on the west shore 
of Elk Lake, but a short distance north of the northeastern 
corner of Becker County. The writer inspected and photo- 
graphed this eyrie, containing two young eaglets in July, 
1902. The Bald Eagle makes bold to capture a few squirrels, 
rabbits, gophers, and an occasional bird ; but for the most 
part secures its living by robbing the Fisk Hawk of its 
hard-earned prey. It is, also, not averse to carrion when 
hard pressed. A noble record for the bird selected as our 
national emblem ! 

104. Gyrfaecon {Falco rnsticolus) . 

This, or one of its two varieties, may be looked for as a 
rare accidental winter visitant from the north. 

105. Prairie Falcon {Falco mexicanus). 

A western species that may occur as a rare straggler in 
the prairie portion of the county. 

106. Duck Hawk (Falco peregrinus anatuni). 

A beautiful, bold hawk of medium size. An occasional 
pair may be found nesting in tall timber about the larger 
bodies of water. 

107. Pigeon Hawk {Falco coliinihaviiis). 

A common little hawk of spirited habit, feeding chiefly on 
birds and insects and occasional small mammals. 

108. Richardson's Merein (Falco richardsonii) . 

A western species that may occur as a rare visitor in the 
prairie portion of the county. 

109. Sparrow Hawk (Falco sparvcrhis). 

An abundant and beautiful little hawk to be seen sitting 
motionless on the top of a stub or fence post, or poised on 
rapidly-beating wings, as it looks for the mouse or grass- 
hopper in the grass below. A very useful bird that has 
been all too greatly reduced in numbers of late years. 
Nests in holes in trees. 
no. OsPREY, Fish Hawk (Fandioii halicctiis caroliiicnsis) . 

A few pairs nest about the larger bodies of water. They 
were to be seen daily about Lake Itasca in the summer 
of 1902, securing their prey by bold dashes into the water, 
often from a considerable height. They seize the tish in 
their talons and bear it off to be devoured at some con- 



1/4 A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 

venient resting place when not despoiled of their quarrv 
by the watchful Bald Eagle. 

111. LoNG-EARED Owl (Asio zvilsoniauus). 

A common inhabitant of tamarack and white cedar swamps. 
Migrates south in the winter. 

112. SiioRT-E.\RED Owl (Asio accipitrinits). 

Common. A bird of the marsh and prairie, rarely, if ever, 
found in woodland. Summer resident only. 

113. B.ARRED Owl (Syniimn iicbitlositin). 

A frequent species in heavy timber. 

114. Great Gray Owl (Scotiaptc.v cincrca). 

Occasionally found in the winter time in the heavy forest. 

115. Richardson's Owl (Xyctala tciig)iiahiii n'cJiardsoiii). 

A small owl, occurring occasionally in winter. 

116. Saw-whet Owl (Nyctala acadica). 

The smallest of our owls. A not luicommon permanent 
resident, nesting in deserted woodpecker holes. 

117. Screech Owl (Mcgascops asio). 

This is the common little owl that comes so fearlessly 
about farms, hunting for mice among the out-buildings and 
about the grain stacks. Remains through the winter. 

118. Great Horned Owl, Cat Owl (Bubo rirgiiiiaints). 

The commonest large owl. Found chiefly in heavy woods. 
This bird is large and powerful and very destructive to 
mammals and birds of many species. It kills a large num- 
ber of rabbits and works havoc among the Ruffed grouse 
during the late fall and winter season, when other food 
is not as easily obtained. 

The owls are, for the most part, beneficial to agricultural 
interests, as they destroy, in their nocturnal prowlings, an 
immense number of mice, other small injurious mam- 
mals, and insects, some of them of the most damaging 
varieties. The Great Horned and the Great Gray are 
the only two species an inventory of whose food would 
show the balance to be seriously against them. The farmer, 
who kills the smaller owls, is thoughtlessly destroying most 
valuable allies in the constant warfare which it is necessary 
to wage against his natural enemies. 

A light variety of the Great Horned Owl is known as 
the Arctic Horned Owl. 



A PioxEER History of Becker County. 



-/3 



119. Snowy Owl (A^ycfca iiycfca.) 

A winter visitant, sometimes appearing in considerable 
numbers, usually in open country. It is a powerful owl, 
destructive to birds, mammals and fish, but its munbers 
are usually so limited that it is not a disturbing element of 
much importance. 

120. American Hawk Owl {Snrnia ulula caparoch). 

A rather common winter visitant throughout the forests 
of northern Minnesota and a few probably remain to breed. 
This owl is said often to hunt its prey, hawk-like, in the day- 
time. 

The popular idea that owls are able to see but very 
imperfectly in the daytime is not entirely correct, for most, if 
not all, varieties can see well enough to get about with per- 
fect ease when forced to move, and several other species be- 
sides the Hawk Owl occasionally hunt by day. 

121. Burrowing Owl {Spcotyto cunicularia hypogcca). 

A bird of the prairie dog towns further west, occasionally 
found in western Minnesota inhabiting deserted badger 
and fox dens. 

122. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccy:::iis aiiiericaiiiis). 

123. Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccycus crythrophfhalniiis) . 

The cuckoos are rather common but shy birds and little seen 
as they inhabit the thick underbrush. Their loud, rattling call 
is, however, well known ; and the belief, that they utter 
it usually just preceding storms, has given to them the 
common name of "Rain Crow." They are about the only 
birds that will eat, in any considerable numbers, the hairy 
caterpillars which are often such a pest; and they are there- 
fore, among our most beneficial birds. Unlike the Euro- 
pean Cuckoo they build their own nests and rear their own 
young. 

124. Belted KingeishER {Ccrylc alcyon). 

Common about all the lakes and streams. 

125. Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobafes zillosus). 

Common in heavy timber and wooded swamp-land. 

126. Downy Woodpecker (Dryobofcs pubcscciis) . 

Abundant everywhere in woodland. 

127. Arctic Three-toEd Woodpecker. Black-backed Three-toed 

Woodpecker (Picoides). 

A common permanent resident in the evergreen forests. 



176 A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 

128. American Three-toed Woodpecker, "Ladder-back" {Picoi- 

dcs aiiiencaiiiis) . 
An uncommon bird. Breeding at Lake Itasca in 1902. 

129. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapiciis ^arius). 

A common summer resident. This bird from its habit of 
piercing the bark to secure the sap, does much injury to 
many varieties of trees, incluchng cultivated fruit and orna- 
mental species. It is therefore to be regarded in the light 
of a pest — the only outlaw among the woodpeckers, which 
are, as a family, among the most useful of all our birds. 

130. PiLEATEi) Woodpecker, Logcock, Cock-of-the-Woods, 

(Ccophkriis pilcafiis abicticola) . 

This, the largest of our woodpeckers, is still rather common 
in the primitive forests. It is a most useful bird and should 
never be ruthlessly destroyed simply because it is an object 
of curiosity, as is so frequently the case. 

131. Red-iiEaded Woodpecker (Mclancrpcs crytliroccphahis) . 

Common in open woodland and about habitations. 

132. Flicker, "High Hole," "Yellow Hammer," "Golden-winged 

Woodpecker (Colapfcs aiiratiis hifciis). 
A familiar bird known to everyone. More terrestrial in 
habit than the other woodpeckers, feeding extensively on 
ants which it secures by thrusting its long, sticky togue in- 
to their burrows. 
^33- Whip-poor-will {Anfrostoiiiiis vocifenis) . 

Present. Brackett says, "Heard one on May 6, 1883, near 
Detroit." 

134. NiGHT-ii.vwK, Bull bat {Chordcilcs zirgiiiiaiiiis). 

A common and well-known bird. The birds found on the 
prairie and in open country are light-colored and are known 
as Sennett's Night-hawk. 

135. Chimney Swift, Chimney "Swallow" [Chcctiira pi-lai:!;ica). 

Abundant. Formerly bred in hollow trees. 

136. Ruby-Throated Hummingiurd i^Trocliiliis coliibris). 

Common. 

137. Kingbird {Tyrainius tyraniiiis). 

Abundant. 

138. Arkansas Kingbird (Tyrainuis verficalis). 

A western species found rather commonly in the tree claims 
and groves along the borders of the prairies. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 177 

139. Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchiis criiiitiis). 

Frequent in heavy timber about lakes and along water- 
courses. Builds its nest in a cavity in a tree. This is 
the Flycatcher that almost invariably places a cast-off snake- 
skin in its nest. 

140. PHoeoE, House Pewee {Sayoniis pha-bc). 

A familiar bird, nesting about out-buildings and under 
bridges. 

141. Olive-sided Flycatcher (Coutopns borcalis). 

A summer resident in heavy woodland. Brackett says: 
"Saw several near Detroit in 18S3." 

142. Wood Pewee {Coiifopus lirciis). 

A common bird in all woodland. 

143. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Enipidoiia.v Hazircntris). 

A common migrant, and probably a few breed in damp 
woodland. 

144. Traill's Flycatcher (Binpidonax fraillii). 

Common, frequenting chiefly willow^ groves and low-lying 
brush land. Probably, in part, at least, the variety known 
as the Alder Flycatcher. 

145. Least Flycatcher, Chebec (Enipidoiia.v ininiiiuis). 

The most common member of the family in all woodland. 

146. Prairie Horned Lark, Shore Lark (Ofocoris alpestris 

praticola). 

A common bird everywhere in open country. Retreats 
southward in winter and returns at the very earliest sug- 
gestion of spring. 

A larger variety know'n as Hoyt's Horned Lark, which 
breeds in British America, may be looked for as a late 
fall and early spring visitant. 

147. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). 

Common, and familiar to all. 

148. Canada Jay, "Moose Bird," "Camp Robber," "Whisky Jack" 

{Pcrisorcns canadensis) . 

Common, noticed chiefly in the winter time as it then 
forages about lumber camps and forest dwellings. In the 
early spring it retreats to nest in the most inaccessible 
spruce and white cedar swamps. 



178 A PioxEiiK History of Becker Couxtv. 

149. XoRTiiEKX Ravex {Corz'iis corax /principalis) . 

Occurs cliiefly as a late fall, winter and early spring- visit- 
ant from the north, feeding- about camps and along- the 
shores of lakes and rivers. 

150. American Crow (Conns aiiiericaiius) . 

\'ery common. 

Clarke's Nutcracker, a western bird, has been taken as a 
rare straggler in western Minnesota and may be looked 
for in Becker County. 

151. Bobolink, Reed Bird, Rice Bird {Dolichonyx oryaiTonis) . 

An abundant bird in all prairie meadows. Called Rice 
Bird in the south where it is very destructive in the rice 
fields; in the north a harmless or beneficial bird. 

152. Cow Bird {Molothrns ater). 

Common. A parasitic bird, never building a nest of its 
own, the eggs being deposited in the nests of other birds, 
usually a species smaller than the cow bird. The voung 
are cared for by the foster parents. 

153. Yellow-headed Blackbird (XaiitJwccphalus xanflwccplia- 

lits). 

Abundant in all (juill-reed and cat-tail swamps. A powerful 
bird, doing much harm to corn, oats and wheat but also 
feeding extensively upon grasshoppers and locusts. 

154. Red-wixged Blackbird (Agelaius pluriiiccus.) 

An abundant and destructive bird although the injury it 
does to grain is somewhat compensated for by the numerous 
number of injurious insects and weed seeds wdiich it con- 
sumes. 

A variety known as the Thick-billed Redwing occurs as 
a migrant in late fall and early spring. 

155. Western Meadow Lark (Sturnella magna ncglccta). 

Abundant. A valuable bird to the farmer. 

156. Orchard Oriole {Ictcrns spurius). 

Brackett says, "Quite common" at Detroit in May, 1883, 
but this is so near the northern limit of its distribution 
that one would expect it to be of infrequent occurrence. 

157. Baltimore Oriole, "Hangnest," "Golden Robin," "Golden 

Oriole" {Icterus galbula). 
\'erv conimon. 



A PioxKKR History oi' Becker County. 179 

158. Rusty Blackbird (Scolccopliagiis carolinus). 

A common migrant spring" and fall, breeding' in the far 
north. Occurs in large, noisy flocks. 

159. Brewer's Blackbird (Scolccophagus cyaiioccplialus). 

Similar to the last in appearance. A summer resident, 
breeding' in colonies in poplar groves and other small 
timber. 

160. Bronzed GracklE, Crow Blackbird (Ouiscalits qiiiscula 

(vneus). 

Common, breeding. Most noticeable in the late summer 
and fall when thev congregate in loose flocks, feeding 
about farm-yards, fields and lawns, destroying a large num- 
ber of injurious insects and grubs that compensate in some 
measure for the injury that they do to the farmers' crops. 

161. Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraiisfes ccspcrtinus) . 

A \vinter visitant, appearing in small flocks. Tame and 
vmsuspicious in habits. Feeds largely on fruit of the box- 
elder, maple and hackberry. 

162. Pine Grosbeak (Piiiicola ciiuclcafor). 

Also a winter visitant. Fond of the fruit of the sumac 
and high -bush cranberry. 

163. Purple Finch (Carpodaciis purpurcns). 

Chiefly to be seen in flocks, spring and fall, but a few 
breed in the evergreen forests. 

164. American Crossbill {Loxia ciinirosfra minor). 

A permanent resident throughout northern Minnesota. 

165. Whitk-winged Crossbill (Loxia Icncoptcra) . 

Occurrence the same as the last but usually not so plentiful. 

166. Redpoll {AcantJiis liiiaria). 

A visitant from the north, occurring in flocks often of 
considerable size. 

Two other varieties, the Hoary and the Greater, may 
be looked for as occasional associates of the common Red- 
poll. 

167. American Goldfinch , "Thistle Bird," "Wild Canary" (As- 

tragaUnus tristis). 

Common. Nesting late in summer. 

168. Pine Siskin (Spiniis piiius). 

]\Iuch less common than the last, chiefly seen spring and 



i8o A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 

fall, but a few may nest in the pine forests of the north- 
eastern corner of the county. 

169. English Sparrow {Passer doiiicsticus). 

Introduced into the United States in 1850, this bird has 
spread until it is now a resident in almost every state and 
territory of the Union and in most parts of British America. 

170. SnowFlake (Passcriiia tiivalis). 

A winter visitant from the north, occurring in larg^e flocks 
in open country. Chiefly noticeable in the late fall and 
early spring. 

171. Lapland Longspur (Calcoriiis lappoiiiciis). 

Like the last. 

172. Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus). 

May occur in company with the last species. 

173. Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus). 

A common summer bird on the higher prairies. 

174. McCown's Longspur {Rhynchophancs uiccoivnii). 

To be looked for as a breeding bird, often in wheat-fields 
among the growing grain. Breeds in Pipestone and Lac 
qui Parle Counties. 

175. Vesper Sparrow, Grass Finch, Bay-winged Bunting (Poocce- 

tcs gramiiicus) . 
A common roadside bird. 

176. Savanna Sparrow (Aimiiodraiiiiis sand-d'ichciisis saiaiuia). 

Common in meadows. 

177. Baird's Sparrow (Aiiimodraiinis bairdii). 

A prairie Ijird. common in the same situations as the last 
species. 

178. Grasshopper Sparrow, Yellow-winged Sparrow {Amniodra- 

nms saiaiinanim passcrimis). 

A common bird of upland prairie and grass fields. 

179. Henslow's Sparrow {Aniinodramns hcnsloivii). 

This tiny bird, almost mouse-like in habit, is not uncommon 
among rank grass, in dry meadows or upland fields. 

180. Leconte's Sparrow {Ainiiiodraiiiits Icconfcii). 

Common in the marshes and meadows about prairie 
sloughs. 

181. Nelson's Sparrow, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Finch {Amuiodra- 

mus nelsoni). 

Frequents prairie marshes. Breeding. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. i8i 

182. Lark Sparrow. Lark Finch (Choiidcsfes grammacus). 

A bird found chiefly in semi-prairie country. Usually 
common. 

183. Harris' Sparrow (Zoiiotrichia qncnila). 

IMigrant, spring and fall. Usually abundant in the latter 
season. 

184. White-crowned Sparrow (Zoiiotrichia Icncophrys). 

Like the last but less common. 

What is known as Gambel's or the Intermediate Sparrow, 
a western variety of this species, occurs regularly during 
the migrations, often in considerable numbers. 

185. White-throated Sparrow (Zoiiotrichia albicoUis). 

Common summer resident, breeding throughout the ever- 
green portion of the county. 

186. Tree Sparrow (Spi::;clhi monticola). 

An abundant migrant spring and fall. 

187. Chipping Sparrow, "Chippy," Hair-bird (SpizcUa socialis). 

Common, often breeding familiarly about houses and in 
towns. 

188. Clay-colored Sparrow (Spi::cUa pallida). 

Abundant. 

189. Slate-colored Junco, Snow Bird (J unco hyciiialis). 

An abundant summer bird throughout the evergreen re- 
gion. Elsewhere migrant spring and fall. 

An occasional example of the western variety known as 
the Oregon Junco, may be found among the migrating 
flocks. 

190. Song Sparrow (Mclospica iiiclodia). 

Common summer resident. 

191. Lincoln's Sparrow (Mclospica lincolnii). 

Found chiefly in the evergreen forests. Probably breeds, 
but apparently not common. 

192. Swamp Sparrow (Mclospiza georgiana). 

Common. A bird of wet swamps, especially where grown 
up in bushes. 

193. Fox Sparrow (Passer ella iliaca). 

A common migrant spring and fall. 

194. TowHEE, Chewink, "Ground Robin" (Pipilo crythrophthal- 

mus). 
A common bird in woodlands. 



i82 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

195. RoSK-i'.REASTED Grosbeak (Zamclodia Judoziciana) . 

A common summer resident. 

196. Indigo Bunting {Cyanospiza cyanca). 

Infrequent, probably reachino^ the northern hmit of its 
distribution in the open woodland of the southern part of 
Becker County. Prof. W. W. Cooke states that he did 
not see it during a three years' residence at White Earth 
Agency ; but Mr. B. T. Gault reported seeing several. May 
27th, 1893, in going from Detroit to Lake Lida. .\t the lat- 
ter place several were encoimtered June 15th of the same 
year in a brushy pasture. The writer did not see it at Lake 
Itasca, but it occurs at Leech Lake. 

197. DiCKCissEE, Black-throated Bunting (Spha americana). 

A summer resident, frequenting chiefly grass, clover and 
grain fields, where it nests in late June and July. Becker 
County is near the northern limit of its range but it has 
been found nesting in Polk County, still further north and 
it has been reported from Marshall County. 

198. Lark Bunting, White-winged Blackbird (Calaiiiospica incl- 

anocorys) . 

A bird of the western plains found on the upland prairies 
of western Minnesota, often commonly. 

199. Scarlet Tanager {Piranga erythraniclas) . 

Found as a summer resident in open woodland. 

200. Purple AIartin (Progiic siibis). 

Common about settlements. 

201. Cliff Swallow {PctrochcUdon hinifroiis). 

Common, breeding under the eaves of buildings. 

202. Barn Swallow (Hinindo crythrogasfra). 

Common. 

203. Tree Swallow, White-bellied Swallow (Tachyiiiccta hicoJor). 

Common. Nesting in holes in trees and stumps. 

204. Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia). 

Frequent, nesting in colonies in holes in banks along rivers 
and lakes. 

205. Rough-winged Swallow (Stclgidoptcry.v scrripcjuiis). 

Similar to the last but less sociable. 

206. Bohemian Waxwing {Ampclis garridus). 

A winter visitor from the north, coming often in con- 
siderable flocks, but verv irregularly. 



A rioxKKK History of Becker County. 183 

207. Cedar IjIRD, Cherry Bird, Cedar Waxwing [AuipcUs ccdro- 

niiii ). 

An abundant summer resident. 
20(S. Northern Shrike, Butcher Bird {Laiiiiis burcalis). 

A spring and fall visitor, but probably not found during 

the winter except in unusually mild seasons. 
2oy.- Migrating Shrike (Laiiins Indovicianus jitigrans). 

A summer resident. 

210. Red-eyed V'ireo (Virco olivaceus). 

Common everywhere in woodland. 

211. Philadelphia VirEo (Virco philadclphicus). 

An uncommon migrant, possibly breeds. 

212. Warbling VirEo (l^irco gihus). 

Common. 

213. Yellow-throated Vireo (Virco fiavifrons). 

A summer resident, less common than either the Red-eyed 
or Warbling. 

214. Blue-headed Vireo, Solitary Vireo (Virco solitarius). 

Breeds rather commonly in the evergreen forests in the 
northeastern corner of the county, elsewhere a migrant. 

215. Black and White Warbler (Mniotilfa varia). 

A summer resident throughout the wooded portion of the 
county. 

216. Golden-winged Warbler {Hcliiiijithophila chrysoptcra) . 

A summer resident in bushy woods especially near tama- 
rack swamps. 

217. Nashville Wx\rblEr (Hcliiiiitthophila nibricapilla). 

A common summer resident in the tamarack and white 
cedar swamps. 

218. Orange-crowned Warbler (Hcliniiifliopliila cclata). 

A common spring and fall migrant. 

219. Tennessee Warbler (HchninthophUa pcrcgrina). 

A very abundant migrant spring and fall. 

220. Parula Warbler {Compsothlypis anicricana). 

A rather common summer resident in the heavy timber. 

221. Cape ^Iay Warbler (Dciidroica tigriiua). 

A spring and fall migrant. 

222. Yellow W^\rblEr (Dciidroica crstiza). 

An abundant summer resident. 



184 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

223. Black-Throated Blue Warbler (Dciidroica ccrnilcscois). 

An uncommon migrant. 

224. Myrtle Warbler. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dciidroica 

coronata). 

An abundant spring and fall migrant. A few pairs prob- 
ably breed in the Lake Itasca region. 

225. Magnolia Warbler {Dciidroica maculosa). 

A common migrant, breeding in limited numbers in the 
evergreen forest. 

226. Chestnut-sided Warbler (Dciidroica pciiiisyl7viiica.) 

A common summer resident. 

227. Bay-breasted Warbler (Dciidroica castaiica). 

An uncommon migrant. 

228. Black-poll Warbler (Dciidroica striata). 

A common migrant. 

229. Blackburnian Warbler (Dciidroica blackbitniicc). 

Breeds rather commonly in the heavy forests of the county. 

230. Black-throated Green Warbler (Dciidroica zirois). 

A bird of the heavy forest, living almost exclusively in the 
tree tops. 

231. Pine Warbler (Dciidroica zii:;orsii). 

An abundant summer resident in all "Jack pine" timber. 

232. Palm Warbler (Dciidroica paliiiarniii) . 

A common migrant. 

233. Oven bird (Scinrus anrocapiUus). 

Common everywhere in woodlands. 

234. Grinnell's Water-thrush (Scinrus noreboracciisis nota- 

bilis). 

Summer resident in low-lying woodlands. Common along 

the banks of lakes and streams during migration. 

235. Connecticut Warbler (Gcothlypis agilis). 

To be looked for as a rare migrant. 

236. Mourning Wari'.lER ( Gcothlypis Philadelphia) . 

A common summer resident, breeding in old "burns" in 
the pine forest. 

237. Maryland Yellow-throat (Gcoflilypis trichas brachidac- 

tyla). 
A common summer bird in all bushy meadows. 

238. Wilson's Warbler (IVilsoiiia piisilla). 

A spring and fall migrant. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 185 

239. Canadian WakblER (IVilsonia canadensis). 

Chiefly as a migrant, but a few breed about the white 
cedar swamps. 

240. American Redstart {Scto{^hai:;a ruficilla). 

A common summer resident. 

241. Amzrjcan FiPiT (A iifhiis pciiiisylzaniciis). 

Spring and fall migrant, seen usually in open country or 
along the beaches of the larger lakes. 

242. Sprague's Pipit (Aiithiis spragiicii). 

A western species occurring on the prairies of the western 
portions of the county. This bird soars and sings high in 
the air like the English skylark and our own horned lark. 

243. Cat Bird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis) . 

Common summer resident. 

244. Brown Thrasher (Toxostoina nifuiii). 

Quite common in the more open wooded portions of the 
county. 

245. Western House Wren (Troglodytes ccdoii a::feciis). 

A common and well known little bird. 

246. Winter Wren (Olbiorchilus Jueiiialis). 

A summer resident, breeding in the heavy forest, but not 
commonly. More frequent as a migrant. Not found in 
the winter as its name implies. 

247. Short-billed Marsh Wren {Cistothorns stcUaris). 

A common bird in meadows and marshes. 

248. Long-billed Marsh Wren (Cistothorns pahtstris). 

A commoner bird than the last, found in wetter marshes. 

249. Brown Creeper (CertJiia faniiliaris ainericana) . 

This tinv little bird is common in all woodland, migrating 
south in the winter. 

250. White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis). 

A common permanent resident in all woodland. 

251. Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). 

A summer resident, migrating southward for the winter. 

252. Chickadee (Parus atricapillns) . 

A permanent resident. Common. 

253. HuDSONiAN Chickadee (Parus hndsonicns). 

A northern species to be looked for as a winter visitant, 
possibly nesting, as it does regularly in the northeastern 
part of Minnesota. 



i86 A I'ldXKKR HisTom' oi" 1')i;ckkk Couxtv. 

254. GoLDEN-CROwNRD Kinglet (Rcgulus satrapa). 

A common spring' and fall migrant. 

255. RuRY -CROWNED KiNGLET (Reguliis calciiditla) . 

An early spring and late fall migrant, usiialK' in con- 
siderable nnmbers. 

256. Wood Thrush (Uylocichla iiiiisfclina). 

A summer resident, its beautiful song beard in almost all 
woodland. 

257. Wh^son's Thrush, \"eery ( Hylocichla fiisccscciis). 

A common summer resident. 

258. Gray-cheeked Thrush (Hylocichla alicicc). 

A spring and fall migrant. 

259. OrjvE-BACKED Thrush, Swainson's Tbrusb (Hylocichla 

nstnlata sivainsonii) . 

A summer resident in tbe evergreen forests. 

260. Hermit Thrush (Hylocichla guttata pallasii). 

An abundant summer resident throughout tbe coniferous 
forests. Its wonderful song could be heard coming from 
all directions until far into the twilight every evening at 
Lake Itasca during June and July. 1902. 

261. American Robin {Mcriila migratoria). 

An abundant simimer resident, often seen migrating in 
considerable flocks. 

262. Blue-bird (Sialia sialis). 

A common and familiar bird, nesting not only in boxes 
about habitations, but very commonly in holes in tree stubs 
standing in open places in the forest. 



Disappearing- Birds and Game Birds. 

P.Y ]). W. AlEEKKR. 

^lany of the birds that were common in Becker County in 
early days have become rare and some of them almost extinct in 
this localit}-. This is especially true of the swan, pelican, whooping 
crane, sandhill crane, blue heron, cormorant, wood duck, wild 
pigeon, woodcock and bald eagle. 

The last named, the emblem of the nation, formerly nested 
in the county ; and the last nest, of which there is a record, was 
in a large tree which stood on an island in Cotton Lake. This 



A I'lOXKIiR iIlST(;RV Ul' HlvCKER CoUXTY. 187 

tree blew down about five years ago and tbe eagles have found a 
new nesting place more remote from civilization. 

In 1897 a whooping crane was found dead in Town Lake, 
south of Frazee. The bird had been shot and had probably flown 
some distance before his wounds proved fatal. Albert Higbee, in 
the history of Walworth, also mentions the killing of one in that 
township in the early eighties. 

Cormorants and pelicans formerly nested in Becker County 
and the fact that two lakes were named after these birds is due 
to this fact. The cormorants formerly nested on the islands in 
the lake of that name, in the southwestern part of the county, 
but were forced to vacate by the settlers. 

There were several colonies of blue heron in the county, but 
now the nests are widely scattered. During the summers of 1886 
to 1889 the Indians cut down about thirty pine trees each year 
on the shores of Rice Lake, north of Height of Land Lake, in 
order to get the young birds for food. 

The wild pigeon, which at one time was found everywhere in 
North America, from Mexico to Hudson's Bay and from the Atlan- 
tic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, has entirely disappeared. These 
birds nested in Becker County and as far north as Hudson's Bay. 
Until the seventies the wild pigeon was very plentiful and count- 
less thousands of them were killed in this locality. The last one 
seen in Becker County, of which there is a record, was observed 
by Mr. Wilcox in 1888. This bird was crippled and remained 
through the summer of that year in a little grove of pine trees 
on the banks of the Otter Tail River about eight miles north of 
Frazee. 

Woodcock never were plentiful in Becker County and for many 
years have been very rare. This is one of the game birds that 
is rapidly disappearing and will soon be referred to only in the 
past tense. 

The finest of all our ducks, the graceful, beautifully plumaged 
wood duck is another favorite that is becoming rarer each year. 
This bird formerly nested in holes in trees near the lakes and 
streams of Becker County and some of them still breed in remote 
sections of the county. Old settlers recall seeing the mother bird 
carrying her young, one by one, in her bill to the water from the 
nest in the tree. 

Other birds that are practically extinct in this locality, are the 
avocets, curlews and godwits. 



i88 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The (leniand for game birds for the eastern markets well nigh 
caused the extermination of the ruffed, pinnated and sharp-tailed 
grouse by the market hunters, aided and abetted by traders in the 
villages. Since the sale of all game has been prohibited in Alinne- 
in the woods. Limiting the open season, also the number that may 
be killed in a day, are factors that aid their protection. It will be 
necessary, however, to enact and enforce more stringent laws, else 
these birds will, like the buffalo, soon be exterminated. 

The ruffed grouse, the king of game birds of Minnesota, is 
found in all the timbered parts of Becker County. This splendid 
bird is also called "partridge" and "pheasant," because of their 
resemblance to their Euro])ean relatives. Dr. Coues says, "The 
bird itself is unmistakable ; no other species has the conspicuous 
ruffle of lengthened, broad, soft, silky (purple-black) feathers on 
the neck." No one who has heard the whirr of the ruff'ed grouse, 
when taking wing, could mistake this peculiar, startling sound for 
any other. Nor can one mistake the drumming sound made by 
the male bird, by rapidly vibrating his wings, while standing on 
a log or stump. The home of the ruffed grouse is in the wood- 
lands — in the summer they are found near openings and around 
berry patches, but as the leaves fall and winter approaches they 
seek the cover of heavy timber and wooded swamplands. They 
pair in the early spring ; nest upon the ground in the shelter of brush, 
a fallen log or in a hollow between the roots of a tree. The num- 
ber of eggs varies from ten to sixteen ; and the newly hatched 
chicks quickly hide under leaves or brush when the mother bird 
sounds the note of alarm. She will pretend to be wounded in 
order to lead an intruder from the vicinity of her brood, and will 
attack one who continues to approach after the little brown shadows 
have disappeared. 

No game bird is more difficult to shoot. Their colors blend 
so completely with their surroundings that it is difficult to dis- 
tinguish them until they are awing — then the hunter often has 
only a glimpse of a whirring, brown body, darting to the cover 
of nearby brush or timber. The flesh is white, extremely delicate, 
and highly prized. 

Comparatively little is known of the Canada grouse, or, as it 
is commonly named, the "spruce grouse" or "spruce hen." This 
bird was also called the "fool hen" because it had not learned 
to fear man. With the ap])roach of civilization it has retired to 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 189 

the dense forests and dark swamps where it is rarely seen. In 
summer it feeds upon berries, the buds and leaves of plants and 
shrubs and insects. In the winter its food is mainly the buds 
and leaves of pine and other coniferous trees. 

The sharp-tailed grouse was the original "prairie cliicken" of 
the west and was plentiful in Becker County, especially in the 
western part where prairie and woodland meet. They are about 
the same size as the pinnated grouse, and the distinguishing marks 
are : the pointed tail ; lighter colored plumage, especially on the 
breast and lower part of the body ; heavier feathering of the legs 
and extending well upon the feet. Its home is in the rolling 
country where there is brush or stunted growth of timber. A 
favorite bird with sportsmen, as they lie close for the dog ; usually 
rise singly, and when flushed will fly but a short distance. In 
summer they feed upon berries and insects, in the winter upon buds 
of brush and trees. 

The pinnated grouse or prairie chicken was driven west by 
the advance of civilization and for many years has been found 
upon the prairies and in the openings in the timber of Becker 
County. The pairing season begins with the breaking up of winter, 
when the booming of the male bird sounds like the beating of 
a mufiled drum. This sound is made by inflating the orange- 
colored receptacles at either side of the neck, and issuing the call 
for the female, which is at the same time a challenge to other 
males. Their nest is a crude affair of grass on the sod or in the 
stubble. The number of eggs laid varies from eight to sixteen 
and the female has entire charge of incubation and the care of 
the young. Coveys remain together until late in the fall when the 
birds "bunch," the flocks often numbering from one to two hun- 
dred. Early in the fall the birds lie well to the dogs and, unless 
scattered, nearly all of the covey will take wing at the same time, 
the mother rising slightly in advance of her young. As the season 
advances the birds become wilder and, when disturbed, fly a long 
distance. They feed upon small grain and seeds, which are in- 
variably picked from the ground, and are fond of grasshoppers 
and other insects. In the winter they roost in trees, feed upon 
buds, around straw stacks and in cornfields and weed patches. 
The flesh is dark, of a gamey flavor and is highly prized. Dis- 
tinguishing marks are, the short rounded tail and the little wings 
of narrow, straight, pointed feathers at either side of the neck. 



190 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Quail have several times reached the southern townships of 
Becker County where several bevys were hatched in 1906. These 
birds resemble young ruffed grouse with abbreviated tails. They are 
very prolific, the female laying from twelve to twenty eggs. Both 
parents aid in the process of incubation and in the care of the 
young. They feed mainly upon seeds and insects and from an 
economic standpoint are considered the most valuable of all birds. 
The call of this beautiful bird resembles the name by which it is 
known in some localities — "Bob White." Quail are difficult to shoot 
on account of their extremely rapid flight. They live through a 
winter when the snowfall is light; but when the snow is heavy 
they find it difficult to procure food. As they roost upon the 
ground, huddled together in some sheltered spot, they are often 
smothered by drifting snow. 

Many varieties of wild ducks, besides the wood duck, still nest 
in the unsettled parts of the county. During the seasons of mi- 
gration, in the spring and fall, the ducks tarry with us until they 
leave, on the northern journey for their breeding grounds ; and 
in the fall for their winter homes. The lakes and marshes of 
Becker County, where wild rice and celery thrive, are favorite 
haunts for these birds and there the hunters seek their quarry. 

English and other snipe are numerous about the open marshes 
during the spring and fall. Some varieties still breed in the county. 

L pland plover still breed extensively on the prairies and mead- 
ows of Becker County and leave, late in the summer, for southern 
climes. Late in the fall the golden plover stop over a few days be- 
fore proceeding on their journey to the grassy ranges of Texas and 
Northern Mexico. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 191 



Chapter IX. 

FISHES OF BECKER COUNTY. 

By D. W. Meeker. 

In the fish that inhabit the lakes and streams, nature endowed 
Becker County with a goodly heritage. In them the Indians found 
one of the principal sources of their supply of food — one that was 
inexhaustible, for the Indian never was guilty of wanton destruction, 
nor would he capture more fish or game than he could make use 
of. It is to be regretted that his white brothers did not learn from 
him the lesson of moderation ; for, if they had, they would never 
have fed fish to their swine or used them to fertilize their fields. 

The early settlers, like the Indians, found in the fish a staple 
article of food, and this was one of the reasons why they located as 
near as possible to a lake or stream. The white man brought im- 
proved implements for capturing fish ; and these were readily adopted 
by his dusky brother of the forest. 

As the country became more thickly populated and the lines of 
railroad were extended the demand for fish for shipment increased ; 
and the waters of Becker County became a favorite field for the net- 
ter and market fisher. For many years there was little or no re- 
striction; and the game and food fish were slaughtered during the 
spawning seasons, for that was the time when they could be netted 
or speared with comparative ease. When the fish became scarce 
there came a demand for protection during the spawning periods; 
and laws were enacted prohibiting fishing in the early spring. These, 
like all other laws, were flagrantly violated by a certain class of citi- 
zens ; and it became necessary to pass more strict laws ; imposing 
more severe penalties, and making it the duty of special officers to 
enforce them. The sale of black bass is prohibited in Minnesota; 
also the taking in any other way than with hook and line. In this 
part of the state the bass do not leave their spawning beds until late 
in June, and the closed season should be extended from May 30th 
to July I St. 

Several varieties of fish, that were not natives of Becker County, 
have been planted in its waters with varying success. Brook trout 
were placed in the streams flowing into Detroit Lake from the east 



192 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

and south, and they have thrived in those waters. Trout were also 
planted in the small streams tributary to the Buffalo and Wild Rice 
Rivers; but have not become numerous in those brooks. In 1874 
the United States government planted "salmon," probably land- 
locked or lake trout in Detroit Lake ; but these were caught in a 
few years by the Indians near the mouth of he Pelican River, early 
in the spring. It was doubtless the same variety of fish that was 
planted in Hehrhold Lake by the government in 1896; but there 
is no record of any of them having been caught. The State Game 
and Fish Commission has planted crappies in the Detroit chain of 
lakes and these fine fish will, in all probability, become abundant in 
these lakes. Carp were planted in Oak Lake and are, doubtless, still 
there as they are only caught with net or spear. 

The black bass, small and large mouth, are natives of Becker 
County, and the large mouth variety is found in practically all of the 
lakes. A description of these fish is unnecessary, for nearly every 
resident of the county has an intimate acquaintance with them. They 
are the game fish of North America and Dr. Henshall, the recognized 
authority, says, "Inch for inch, and pound for pound, the gamest 
fish that swims." The small mouth variety is the rarer, and many 
fishermen consider it the gamer of the two. The color in both 
varieties varies, even in the same waters ; age, depth and hue of 
water, and presence or absence of weeds about their haunts being 
factors. In the winter the black bass hibernate in deep water ; and 
authorities agree with the statement of Mr. John Eoff, found in 
the Report of the Smithsonian Institution, for 1854: "In the winter 
season they retire to deep, still water and apparently hide under 
rocks, logs, etc., and remain there until the first of April." 

After leaving their winter quarters, the bass spend several weeks 
before they pair and begin preparations for breeding. Each pair 
makes a nest in shallow water, varying from two to six feet deep, 
in the lakes. The nests are shallow, saucerlike depressions, about 
twice the diameter of the length of the fish, from which the bass fan 
with their tails and fins, sand, silt and vegetable matter, leaving a 
bright, clean bed. The female deposits her eggs in the nest and 
they are fertilized by the male. The eggs are hatched in from one 
to two weeks, depending upon the temperature of the water. If the 
spawning period has arrived the fish will not spawn unless the 
temperature of the water is above 50 degrees ; and the eggs will 
die if it falls to 45 degrees after they have been deposited. It is 



A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 193 

the male bass that guards the nest and broods the newly-hatched fry 
for several days, until they scatter to the shelter of weeds and grass in 
shallow water. The young fish feed upon small crustacean and 
some of the larval forms of insects. In a month they are an inch 
long ; three to six inches in the fall ; and increase about one pound 
each year until the average maximum of five pounds is attained. 

Black bass cannot be propogated artificially and breeding in 
captivity is still in the experimental stage. Fry for transplanting (in 
Minnesota) are obtained from the sloughs and shallows of the lower 
Mississippi. The large mouth is the Oswego. 

The Rock bass resembles the black bass, but is deeper and more 
compressed, like a sunfish. It is olive green in color, much mottled ; 
head and mouth large ; eyes large and red. The rock bass, when 
fullgrown, is from ten to twelve inches in length and weighs about 
one pound. They are common in all the waters of Becker County 
and are an excellent pan-fish. 

Wail-Eyed Pike, as they are commonly known, although in the 
"books" they are also called "Pickerel" and "Pike-Perch," are na- 
tives of most of the lakes of the county. Cormorant being a notable 
exception. The reason for the absence of the Pike from this lake 
has never been explained. This is one of the most valuable of the 
food fishes of the state. It is a trimly built, shapely fish with a 
long and rather slender body. The head is large, and the large eyes 
are "glassy." The color varies ; but is usually of an olive or greenish 
brown ; are rarely found in shallow water except early in the 
spring, when they spawn near the mouth of a stream. The pike 
are a quick growing fish, attain a length of three feet and, occasion- 
ally, a weight of ten pounds. They are found about sandy or gravel- 
ly bars and, as the season advances, seek deeper, colder water. 

The pickerel is a native. This fish is not a favorite in Becker 
County, because the more desirable members of the finny tribe are 
so plentiful. It cannot be called a handsome fish, for it has too 
large a head and a mouth that is far too large for a thing of beauty. 
The pickerel is a valuable food fish, especially after it has attained 
a weight of three pounds or over. They spawn early in the spring 
in very shallow water along the marshy or grassy shores of the lakes 
and streams. The pickerel is easily caught, for it will bite at any- 
thing; and during the winter is speared through holes in the ice. 

Several varieties of sunfish are found in the w^aters of the county 
and some of them are misnamed crappies. These fish inhabit every 



194 -^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

lake and stream in the county ; are easily caught, and are a very 
desirable pan-fish. 

The yellow perch is another fish that is found in all the waters 
of the county. It is always found in schools — the fish in each school 
being about the same size. The fiesh is delicately flavored. 

Catfish and bullheads are natives of the lakes and streams of 
the county. They are not favorites with fishermen, yet the flesh is 
highly prized in many localities. 

The sucker family is well represented in the waters of the 
county. The red horse and other varieties of sucker are abund- 
ant. They are of little use as food fish as the flesh becomes soft 
early in the spring. The sucker is the w^orst enemy of other fish 
for it follows them during the breeding season and feasts upon 
their spawn. It is rarely taken except with net or spear. 

The tullibee, or inland or mongrel whitefish, is a native of the 
deep water lakes of the county. It is a valuable food fish and one 
that is highly prized by those who live near the lakes. Its home 
is in the deep, cold waters, and it never comes near the surface except 
during the breeding season, which occurs late in November and 
early in December. The tullibee spawns near the surface ; and, 
when they are running, are caught in gill nets. Many people bury 
them in the snow and thus have a supply of fresh fish for the entire 
winter. 

The minnows are, of course, numerous in all the waters of the 
county. Some of the darters are very beautiful, especially dur- 
ing the breeding season ; and on account of their brilliant colors, are 
said to occupy the same position among fishes that humming birds 
do among birds. The creek chub or horned dace, silver fin or 
"horny head," shiner, roach or golden shiner, red fin, l)lunt-nose, 
silversides, stickleback and stone rollers are common. 

The dogfish is the only non-edible fish found in the waters of 
the county. 

It is probable that all the fish found in the Red River of the 
North and its tributaries have been found in Becker County. There 
are records of sturgeon being taken in Detroit Lake ; and probably 
some of the "monsters," reported from time to time, are members 
of this family. Sheepshead, also called the fresh water drum, have 
been caught in Pelican Lake. The gold eyes, river chub and some 
of the minnows and darters are also found in the tributaries of the 
Red River that flow from the countv. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 195 

Chapter X. 

HOW WAS THIS COUNTRY FIRST PEOPLED? 

For a long- time it was the opinion of many intelligent people, 
who had investigated the subject, that the Indians were the de- 
scendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel. If it is a fact that they 
were actually lost, that might be a very reasonable theory, but al- 
though a good many Jews have been found in America in recent 
years, I have never heard of their claiming any relationship with 
the Indian. 

George Catlin, an American artist, who had traveled among 
the Indians of the entire continent, and was undoubtedly better 
acquainted with the Indian character and traditions than any 
other white man, claimed to be firm in the belief that the Indians 
had an Adam of their own and that they were originally created 
on the American continent. 

Bancroft, the eminent American historian, expressed his belief 
that the Indians are of Mongolian descent. 

This opinion is corroborated by Dr. Eastman, a highly edu- 
cated Sioux Indian of full blood, who says that he recognizes the 
names of several of the Japanese warships as familiar Sioux 
names, varying but little from those of his own tongue. 

During the world's fair at St. Louis, in 1904, an educated In- 
dian woman, of the Creek Nation, stated that during a conver- 
sation with some of the Filipinos, who were there on exhibition, 
that she could understand a large part of their language, and could 
converse with them in their native tongue with a surprising de- 
gree of intelligence. 

But whether they were of Mongolian, Malay, Phenician, Scan- 
dinavian, American. Aztec, or Hebrew origin, or whether they 
were descended from the man in the moon, will probably never be 
known, and the imagination, unsupported by facts, may roam at 
will in the realm of ingenious, speculation, which it is unprofit- 
able to pursue. 



ig6 A PioxcKK History of Becker County. 

Chapter XL 

THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 

Ojibwa. the original name of the Chippewas, means puckered 
up, or to roast until drawn up. (See Warren's History of the 
Ojibwa Nation.) 

I am free to admit, that I take a different view of the Indian 
question, and that my feelings and sympathies run in a different 
channel from that of many of the American people. 

Sixty years of my life I have passed among, or in close prox- 
imity to different tribes, and have traveled or lived among' more 
than twenty dift'erent nations of Indians, speaking as many differ- 
ent tongues. 

When a child in my mother's arms, we were both saved from 
a watery grave by a squaw, belonging to the Alleghany tribe of 
the Seneca Nation, who forced her way in a canoe, through a rag- 
ing flood, and rescued us from a block of ice that was hurrying 
us at a rapid rate, down the swiftly flowing waters of the Alle- 
ghany River. 

It is true that I have been twice held up by the Sioux Indians, 
who each time considered all white men as trespassers on their 
lands, and I was once robbed by the Bannocks, but they were 
then at war with the United States, and only two months before 
nearly three hundred of their warriors had been slain by our 
soldiers in a single battle. 

I have lived for more than thirty-six years as a near neighbor 
to the Chippewa Indians here in Becker County, and feeling my- 
self duly qualified to render an impartial opinion in their case, I 
pronounce them, with the exception perhaps of the Flatheads and 
Fend' Oreilles in Montana, to be the most honest, peaceable and 
trustworthy nation of Indians in the United States. Of course 
there have been criminals among them, like Bach-i-na-na, Bo-a- 
nece and Bobolink, who have been guilty of the crime of murder, 
but during the brief history of our county, twice as many mur- 
ders have been comiuitted by white men. 

During my ten years' experience in logging on the Otter Tail 
River, I have had many losses from theft by white men, but never 
lost the value of a penny through an Indian. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 197 

Bishop Whipple once told of making a trip many years ago 
with a party of Indians, and one morning, as they were about 
to start out on a hunt, the l)ishop asked the chief what he had 
better do with his watch and pocketbook, as he did not like to 
carry them around through the brush and swamps, and he was 
afraid they would be stolen if he left them in camp. The chief 
replied, "hang them up on a tree, they will be safe ; there is not a 
white man within fifty miles of here." 

Ever since the discovery of America there has been a class of 
white men on the frontiers, who have considered the Indians as 
legitimate victims of plunder and rapine, and in some sections, and 
at dififerent periods of our country's history it has been the height 
of ambition with some of this class of bravados to kill one or more 
Indians. Adam Poe, notorious as the slayer of Big Foot, a Wyan- 
dot chief, near the Ohio River, in West Virginia something like 
100 years ago, once remarked that "he had killed 'bars' and 'paint- 
ers' (bears and panthers) to his heart's content, but that there 
was no game like Injuns," 

To the credit of the people of Becker County, however, the 
Indians here have received far better treatment than in many other 
localities. 

W. W. Warren, the historian of the Chippewa Nation, himself 
one-fourth of Chippewa blood, in the preface to his interesting 
work makes the following touching and elocjuent plea in behalf of 
his kindred race : 

The red race of North America is fast disappearing before the onward, 
irresistless tread of the Anglo-Saxon. Once the vast tract of country, 
lying between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi, where a century 
since roamed numerous tribes of the wild sons of nature, but a few, a 
very few, now exist. Their former dominions are now covered with the 
teeming towns and villages of the "pale face," and millions of happy free- 
men enjoy the former homes of these unhappy and fated people. 

The few tribes and remnants of tribes, who still exist on our Western 
frontier, truly deserve the sympathy and attention of the American people. 
We owe it to them as a duty, for we are now the possessors of their 
former inheritance, and the bones of their ancestors are sprinkled through 
the soil on which are now erected our happy homesteads. 

The red man has no powerful friends, such as the enslaved negro 
once could boast, to represent his miserable, sorrowing condition, his many 
wrongs, his wants and wishes. In fact, so feebly is the voice of phil- 
anthrophy raised in his favor, that his very existence appears to be hardly 
known to some of the American people, or his character and condition 



198 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

has been so misrepresented, that it has failed to secure their love and 
confidence. 

The heart of the red man has been shut against his white brother. 
We know him only by his exterior. 

Much has been written concerning the red race, by travelers, mis- 
sionaries and by some eminent authors; but the information respecting 
them, which has thus far been collected, has been superficial and inaccurate. 

It is true that the Indians are possessed of traits of character 
and an individuaHty peculiarly their own, and in most cases a 
white man who expects to deal with them by following the busi- 
ness rules and principles of the white men, will at first become 
puzzled and disappointed, but after a better acquaintance, and 
gaining their confidence will find his business with them very 
much simplified and more satisfactory. The following extract 
from the rep<^rt of Indian Commissioner Leuj^p, for 1905, touch- 
ing these peculiar characteristics of the Indian are well worthy 
of record. 

I copy the folloAving article from the \Mute Earth Touiahai^'k. 
Of this report the editor says : "All those who may read the follow- 
ing extracts from the report of Commissioner Leupp, cannot help 
but admit that he has a sincere regard for the Indians. Notwith- 
standing that he may have overdrawn their virtues, there it not 
an Indian in America who should not feel grateful for the Commis- 
sioner's report as a whole." 

The Commissioner says : 

The commonest mistake made by the white wellwishers in dealing 
with the Indian is the assumption that he is simply a white man with a 
red skin. The next commonest is the assumption that because he is a 
non-Caucasian he is to be classed indiscriminately with other non-Cauca- 
sians, like the negro, for instance. The truth is that the Indian has as dis- 
tinct an individuality as any type of men who ever lived, and he will never be 
judged aright till we learn to measure him by his own standards, as we 
whites would wish to be measured if some more powerful race were to 
usurp dominion over us. 

Suppose, a few centuries ago, an absolutely alien people like the 
Chinese had invaded our shores and driven the white colonists before them 
to districts more and more isolated, destroyed the industries on which 
they had always subsisted, and crowned all by disarming them and penning 
them on various tracts of land where they could be fed and clothed and 
cared for at no cost to themselves, to what condition would the white 
American of to-day have been reduced? In spite of their vigorous ancestry 
they would surely have lapsed into barbarism and become pauperized. No 
race on earth could overcome, with forces evolved from within themselves. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 199 

the effect of such treatment. That our red brethren have not been wholly- 
ruined by it, is the best proof we could ask for the sturdy traits of character 
inherent in them. But though not ruined, they have suffered serious 
deterioration, and the chief problem now before us is to prevent its going 
any further. To that end we must reckon with several facts. 

First, little can be done to change the Indian who has already passed 
middle life. By virtue of that very quality of steadfastness which we 
admire in him, when well applied, he is likely to remain an Indian of the 
old school to the last. With the younger adults we can do something 
here and there, where we find one who is not too conservative; but our 
main hope lies with the youthful generation, who are still measurably 
plastic. 

The thoughtless make sport of the Indian's love of personal adorn- 
ment, forgetting that nature has given him an artistic instinct of which 
this is merely the natural expression. What harm does it do him that he 
likes a red kerchief around his neck, or feels a thrill of pride in the silver 
buckle on his belt? Does not the banker in the midst of civilization wear 
a scarf pin and a watch chain, and fasten his linen cuffs with links of gold? 
The highest of us is none the worse for the love of what is bright and 
pleasant to the eye. Our duty is plainly not to strangle the Indian's 
artistic craving, but to direct it into a channel where its satisfaction will 
bear the best fruit for himself and the world. 



200 A PioNEEK History of Becker Countv 



Chapter XII. 

ABSTRACT OF TITLE. 

It is customary among all careful business men, and particular- 
ly with dealers in real estate, before investing money in land or 
taking security in the same, to investigate the title to the land in 
question. Becker County is now nearly all, except what is on the 
White Earth Reservation, in the hands of white people as owners, 
and they, I believe feel secure in their right and title to their 
homes, and such other real estate as they possess, wherever they 
are able to trace the dififerent instruments of conveyance link by 
link in one unbroken chain back to the deed or patent from the 
United States Government. 

But for the satisfaction of all such that have any fear that 
there may be a flaw in their title previous to Uncle Sam's patent, 
and for the satisfaction of any person who may on any moral 
grounds, or who may have any conscientious scruples as to 
whether Uncle Sam himself had a good and sufficient right, both 
morally and legally, to convey to us these lands, we will proceed 
to investigate the title to the soil of Becker County, back to the 
very beginning of the history of the real estate business on the 
American continent. 

Becker County was a part of the Louisiana purchase, which was 
ceded or deeded to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte, Em- 
peror of France, on the 30th day of April, 1803. And now the gi- 
gantic question arises : how did France acquire a legal right to this 
country to begin with? And here we come to the first instrument 
of conveyance ever executed in writing afifecting the title to the 
farms and homes of the people of Becker County. 

Early in the year 1689, Nicholas Perrot, a Frenchman, with 
a party of forty men, established a trading post at Lake Pepin, and 
commenced trading with the Sioux Indians. That same year he 
formally claimed the country in the name of France. 

The official document reads as follows : 

I, Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the King at the post of Nadoues- 
sioux. and commissioned to manage the interests of commerce among 
the Indians, and to take possession in the King's name of all places where 
I have heretofore been, and whither I will go. 

I, this day, the 8th of May, 1689, do, in the presence of the Reverend 



A Pioneer History of Becker CoUx\ty. 201 

Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, Missionary among the Sioux; of 
Monsieur de Borieguillot, commanding the French in the neighborhood 
of the Wisconsin; Augustin Legardieur, Esquire; Sieur de Caumont; and 
of Messieurs Le Seur, Herbert, Lemire and Blein, declare to all whom 
it may concern, that being come from The Bay Des Puants, and to the 
Lake of the Wisconsins, and to the River Mississippi, we did transport 
ourselves to the country of the Sioux, on the borders of the River St. 
Croix, to the mouth of the River St. Pierre (Minnesota River), on the 
bank of which were the Mantantans; and farther up to the interior, to the 
northeast of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchokatonx, with whom dwell 
a majority of the Sioux who are to the northwest of the Mississippi, to take 
possession for, and in the name of the King, of the countries and rivers 
inhabited by the said tribes, and of which they are the proprietors. 

The present act done in our presence, and signed with our hands and 
subscribed, etc. 

We here find the Minnesota country west of the Mississippi River 
claimed by France, and this instrument is one of the Hnks in the chain 
of title by which our lands are held. But to a man of ordinary in- 
telligence and moral sensibility we are still in the mire of doubt and 
uncertainty, and are far from "reading our title clear" to the soil we 
now occupy, and I here come to a question that has puzzled many an 
able writer, and been the theme of many a long-winded controversy. 

When Washington Irving began to write up the history of New 
York, he encountered this same overshadowing question. He, how- 
ever, met the question heroically, and came forward with an array of 
arguments and statement of facts that must forever settle the ques- 
tion of the right of the King of France to this section of our country 
to the entire satisfaction of all conscientious philanthropists and legal 
quibblers. He says : 

The question which has thus suddenly arisen is: What right had the 
first discoverers of America to land and take possession of a country with- 
out first gaining the consent of its inhabitants? A question that has stood 
many fierce assaults, and has given much distress of mind to multitudes 
of kind-hearted people. And indeed, until it be totally vanquished and 
put to rest, the worthy people of America can by no means enjoy the soil 
they inhabit with clear right and title, and quiet, unsullied consciences. 

The first source of right by which property is acquired in a country 
is discovery. For as all mankind have an equal right to anything which 
has never before been appropriated, so a nation that discovers an unin- 
habitated country and takes possession thereof is considered as enjoying 
full property, and absolute, unquestionable empire therein. 

This proposition being admitted, it clearly follows that the Europeans 
who first visited America were the real discoverers of the same; nothing 
being necessary to establish this fact but simply to prove that it was 
totally uninhabitated by man. This would at first appear to be a point of 



202 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

some difficulty, for it is well known that this quarter of the world abounded 
with certain animals that walked erect on two feet, had something of the 
human countenance, uttered certain unintelligible sounds very much like 
language and in short, had a marvelous resemblance to human beings. 
But the zealous and enlightened fathers who accompanied the discoverers, 
soon cleared up this point, greatly to the satisfaction of his Holiness the 
Pope and all Christian voyagers and discoverers. 

They plainly proved, and as no Indian writers arose on the other side 
to dispute the fact, it was considered as fully admitted and established 
that the two-legged race of animals before mentioned were mere cannibals, 
detestable monsters, and some of them giants; which last have always been 
considered as outlaws. Indeed the philosophic Lord Bacon declared the 
Indians to be people prescribed by the laws of nature. 

Nor are these all the proofs of their utter barbarism. Ullo tells us, 
"Their imbecility is so visible that one can hardly form an idea of them 
different from what one has of the brutes. Nothing disturbs the tran- 
quility of their souls, equally insensible to disasters and to prosperity. 
Though half naked, they are as contented as a king in his most splendid 
array. Fear makes no impression on them, and respect as little." And 
M. Bouguier says, "It is not easy to describe their indifiference to wealth 
and all its advantages. One does not well know what motives to propose 
to them to persuade them to any service. It is vain to ofYer them money; 
they answer they are not hungry." And Vanegas assures us that "Ambition 
they have none. The objects of ambition with us — honor, fame, reputation, 
riches, positions and distinctions — are unknown among them. In a word, 
these unhappy mortals may be compared to children, with immature in- 
tellects." 

But the benevolent fathers advanced still farther, and stronger proofs, 
Lullus affirms: "The Indians go naked and ha\"e no beards! They have 
nothing of the reasonable animal except the mask. And even that mask 
was allowed to avail them but little, for it was soon found that they were 
of a hideous copper complexion, and being of a copper complexion it was 
all the same as if they had been negroes, and negroes are black, and black, 
said the pious father crossing himself, is the color of the devil." There- 
fore, so far from being able to own property, they had no right even to 
personal freedom, for liberty is too radiant a deity to inhabit such gloomy 
temples. All of which circumstances plainly convinced the righteous 
followers of Cortes and Pizarro that these miscreants had no title to 
the soil they infested — that they were a perverse, illiterate, dumb, beard- 
less black seed — mere wild beasts of the forests, and like them should be 
either subdued or exterminated. 

The right of discovery being fully established, we now come to the 
next, which is the right acquired by cultivation. To cultivate the soil we 
are told is an obligation imposed by nature on mankind. Now it is 
notorious that the Indians knew nothing of agriculture when discovered 
by the Europeans, but lived a most vagabond, disorderly, unrighteous life; 
whereas it has been unquestionably shown that Heaven intended the earth 
should be plowed, and sown, and manured, and laid out into cities, and 
towns, and farms and pleasure grounds and public gardens — all of which 



A Pionke;r History of Becke;r County. 203 

the Indians knew nothing about; therefore they did not improve the talents 
Providence had bestowed on them; therefore they were careless stewards; 
therefore, they had no right to the soil; therefore, they deserved to be 
exterminated. 

It is true the Indians might plead that they derived all the benefits from 
the land which their simple wants required — they found plenty of game to 
hunt, which, together with the roots and wild fruits of the earth, furnished 
a sufficient variety for their frugal repasts; and that so long as these pur- 
poses were answered the will of Heaven was accomplished. 

But this only proves how undeserving they were of the blessings 
around them: they were so much the more savages for not having more 
wants. Therefore, the Indians, in not having more wants, were very 
unreasonable animals, and it was but just that they should make way for 
the Europeans, who had a thousand wants to their one, and therefore 
would turn the earth to more account, and more truly fulfil the will of 
Heaven. Besides inany wise men who have considered the matter properly 
have determined that the property of a country cannot be acquired by 
hunting, cutting wood, or drawing water therein. Now as the Indians 
(probably from never having read the above decisions) had never com- 
plied with any of these forms, it follows that they had no right to the 
soil, but that it was completely at the disposal of the first comers, who 
had more wants and more desires than themselves. 

But a more irresistible right than either that I have mentioned, is the 
right acquired by civilization. All the world knows the lamentable state 
in which these poor savages were found. But no sooner did the benevolent 
inhabitants of Europe behold their sad condition, than they immediately 
went to work to improve it. They introduced among them rum, gin, 
brandy, and other comforts of life; and it is astonishing to read how soon 
the poor savages learned to estimate these blessings. They likewise 
made known to them a thousand remedies by which the most inveterate 
diseases were alleviated and healed; and that they might comprehend the 
benefits and enjoy the comforts of these medicines, they introduced among 
them the diseases which they were designed to cure. By these and a 
variety of other methods was the condition of these poor people won- 
derfully improved. 

Here, then, are three complete and undeniable sources of right estab- 
lished, any one of which was more than ample to establish a property in 
the newly discovered regions of America, and this all at once brings us to 
a fourth right, which is worth more than all the others put together; and 
this last right may be entitled the Right by Extermination, or, in other 
words, the Right by Gunpowder. 

But lest any scruples of conscience should remain on this head, and to 
settle the question of right forever. His Holiness Pope Alexander VI. 
issued a bull by which he generously granted to the Catholic nations of 
Southeastern Europe all the newly discovered quarters of the globe. These 
nations having both law and gospel on their side, were clearly entitled to 
the soil, and also to the eternal thanks of these infidel savages, for having 
come so far. endured so many perils by land and sea, for no other purpose 



204 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

but to improve their forlorn, uncivilized, heathenish condition; and for 
having made them acquainted with the comforts of life." 

W. I. 

We now find France with a securely established title to the 
soil we now occupy, in Becker County. 

In 1762 France ceded the whole of the province of Louisiana 
to Spain who was the sole and undisputed owner for thirty-eight 
years, when by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, Spain ceded the Pro- 
vince back to France on the first day of October 1800. 

France never took formal possession of the entire province, but 
occupied a few places on the Mississippi River jointly with Spain, 
the most important of which was New Orleans ; both nations hav- 
ing troops stationed there at the same time. Finally on the 30th 
day of April, 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte, by the treaty of Paris, as 
I have before stated, sold the province to the United States for 
$15,000,000. 

Spain was displeased with the transfer of the province to the 
United States, and her minister at Washington was instructed to 
warn our government to suspend the ratification of the treaty of 
cession of Louisiana ; as the French government, in securing the 
province had contracted with Spain not to retrocede it to any 
other power, and France, not having adhered to that agreement, 
the treaty cession was declared void by Spain. This controversy 
was not settled until the 22nd of February 1819, when Spain rati- 
fied the treaty of Paris, and relin((uishe<l all adverse rights she 
may have possessed. 

When our government took possession of the country, they 
found what is now northwestern Minnesota, occupied jointlv by 
the Sioux and Chippewa nations of Indians. Neil's History of 
Minnesota says : 

For more than a century, there had been a westward tendency in the 
emigration of the Indian nations, and a frequent source of war among the 
Northwestern tribes, was the encroachment upon each other's hunting 
grounds. 

In the hope that good might result from well defined boundary lines, 
on the igth of August, 1825, by order of the authorities at Washington, 
Governor Clark, of Missouri, and Governor Cass of Michigan, convened 
at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, a grand congress of Indians, among which 
were represented the Sioux and Chippewa Nations. After some discussion, 
it was agreed between the Sioux and Chippewas that a dividing line should 
be established between their respective countries. In Minnesota, the line 
of demarkation agreed upon began on the St. Croix River, a day's paddle 
above the head of Lake St. Croix; thence between two lakes, called Green 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 205 

Lakes; from thence to the Standing Cedar that the Sioux split; thence 
to Rum River, crossing at Choking Creek, a day's march from its mouth; 
thence to a point of woods that projects into the prairie a half day's march 
from the Mississippi; thence in a straight line to the Mississippi River 
at the mouth of the first river above the Sauk; thence up that river to a 
small lake at its source; thence to a lake at the head of Prairie River, a 
tributary of the Crow Wing; thence to the portage of Otter Tail Lake; 
thence to the outlet of Otter Tail Lake; thence to the BufYalo River, mid- 
way between its source and its mouth, and down said river to Red River, 
and down Red River to the mouth of Goose River. 

This division line placed nearly all of Becker County in the 
Chippewa territory, leaving about half of Cormorant Township 
and perhaps a small fraction of the southwest corner of Lake Park 
on the Sioux side of the line. By this treaty the Sioux title to 
nearly all the territory of Becker County was extinguished. 

It became evident, however, soon after the treaty, that neither 
the Sioux nor Chippewas were willing to be pent up by any bound- 
ary lines. 

The only adverse claim to the soil of Becker County, now, was 
that of the Chippewa Indians, who had rightfully considered 
themselves the lawful owners of all of what is now northern ISIin- 
nesota, from time immemorial. 

I am indebted to Gus. H. Beaulieu for the following memoran- 
da of treaties between the United States government and the Chip- 
pewa Indians, relating to the territory embraced in Becker County: 

The first treaty was made April 7th, 1855, with the Mississippi, Pillager 
and Lake Winnebegoshish bands of Chippewas, and ceded the following 
tract of country to the United States Government: 

Beginning at a point where the east branch of the Snake River 
crosses the southern boundary line of the Chippewa country, east 
of the Mississippi River, as established by the treaty of July 29, 
1837; running thence, up the said branch to its source; thence, nearly 
north in a straight line, to the most westwardly bend of Vermillion 
River; thence, northwestwardly, in a straight line, to the first and 
most considerable bend of the Big Fork River; thence, down said 
river to its mouth; thence, down Rainy Lake River, to the mouth 
of Black River; thence, up that river to its source; thence, in a 
straight line, to the northern extremity of Turtle Lake; thence, 
in a straight line to the mouth of Wild Rice River; thence, up 
Red River of the North, to the mouth of Bufifalo River; thence, 
in a straight line, to the southwestern extremity of Ottertail Lake; 
thence, through said Lake, to the source of Leaf River; thence, 
down said river to its junction with Crow Wing River; thence, 
down Crow Wing River, to its junction with the Mississippi River; 



2o6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

thence, to the commencement on said river of the southern bound- 
ary line of the Chippewa country, as established by the treaty of 
July 2g, 1837; and thence, along said line, to the place of beginning. 
And the said Indians do further fully and entirely relinquish and 
convey to the United States any and all right, title and interest, 
of whatsoever nature the same may be, which they may now have 
in and to any other lands in the Territory of Minnesota or 
elsewhere." 

Within the above described territory ceded under this treaty, nine 
reservations were created, and established, viz.; Mille Lacs, Gull Lake, 
Rabbit Lake, Rice Lake, Sandy Lake, Pokegama, Leech Lake, Cass and 
Winnebegoshish reservations. 

You will see the terni.s of this treaty that all the land in 
Becker County was thereby ceded to the United States govern- 
ment. 

By a treaty made March iSth, 1865, with the Chippewas, all these 
reservations, except the Leech Lake, Cass Lake and Winnebegoshish were 
ceded to the United States, and in lieu thereof there was set apart for the 
Indians a long irregular strip of country reaching from a point on the 
Mississippi River near Grand Rapids, to the mouth of Thief River, and 
from there down Red Lake River to a point a few miles below Red Lake 
Falls, but which did not quite take in any of Becker County. 

On the i8th of April, 1867, a treaty was made, by the terms of wdiich 
all that part of the last described reservation lying west of the Leech 
Lake and Cass Lake Reservations was set aside, and in lieu thereof the 
following was made a part of the treaty: 

"And there is further reserved for the said Chippewas out of 
the land now owned by them such portion of their western outlet 
as may upon location and survey be found within the reservation 
provided for in the next succeeding section. 

Article 2. — In order to provide a suitable farming region for 
the said bands, there is hereby set apart for their use a tract of land, 
to be located in a square form as nearly as possible, with lines 
corresponding to the Government surveys; which reservation shall 
include White Earth and Rice Lakes, and contain thirty-six town- 
ships of land; and such portions of the tract herein provided for 
as shall be found upon actual survey to lie outside of the reservation 
set apart for the Chippewas of the Mississippi by the second article 
of the treaty of March 20, 1865, shall be received by them in part 
consideration of the cession of lands made by this agreement-" 
Article two above quoted is the stipulation of the treaty of 1867 which 
established what is now White Earth Reservation. Hole-in-the-Day, 
Misquadace and Shab-aush-kung were the chiefs that negotiated the treaty. 
The treaty of 1S55 was negotiated by Hole-in-the-Day, Sr., Flatmouth, 
Sr., and other chiefs of the Mississippi bands. 

It is very doubtful whether the Indians made a very good treaty in 
1867, since they ceded a very large tract of country estimated to contain 
two million acres, although they got a part of White Earth Reservation 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 207 

in lievi of this cession. This was one of the causes which led to the 
assassination of Hole-in-the-Day by May-dway-we-nind and six other 
Indians, all of whom were cousins of the former. May-dway-we-nind was 
one of the Indians who stirred up the Bear Island outbreak, and who was 
afterwards convicted with eight others for resisting a deputy U. S. mar- 
shal, which was the only charge, under the law, over which the United 
States had jurisdiction in the Sugar Point fight. May-dway-we-nind froze 
to death at Leech Lake two years ago last winter. 

In regard to the question about the cession of White Earth Reserva- 
tion, the Indians, as you will notice by the cessions quoted herein, ceded 
the country which is now a part of the White Earth Reservation, in 1855; 
in 1865 the government ceded a large strip of country back to the Indians, 
which included a part of the reservation which was known as the "Western 
Outlet" of the Chippewas. Under the treaty of 1867. a part of this Western 
Outlet was retained, although it was the intention of the Indians to retain 
the whole of it, but they were over-reached in the wording of the treaty. 

Gus. H. BeauliEu. 



Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant. 

In the year 1864 the United States congress granted a charter 
to the Northern Pacific raihoad company accompanied by a land 
grant, which after a few alterations and amendments, including 
every odd numbered section of land belonging to the United States 
government for a distance of twenty miles on each side of the center 
of the main line of that road in Minnesota, and forty miles on each 
side in territory between Minnesota and Puget Sound. An addi- 
tional strip of land was set aside to indemnify the railroad company 
for any land that had been sold or otherwise disposed of within the 
limits of this land grant. These indemnity lands included all odd 
numbered sections within the limits of a strip twenty miles in 
width on each side of the actual land grant in Minnesota, and ten 
miles on each side in Dakota. I think all these indemnity lands in 
i\Iinnesota finally passed into the hands of the railroad coinpany, 
and I am positive that this was the case in Becker County, with 
the exception of the lands on the White Earth Reservation, none 
of which were included in this land grant. 

The date at which the title of the Northern Pacific attached, or 
on which their ownership began, was the time of the filing of the 
plat of the final location of their road with the commissioner of 
the general land office at Washington, and its acceptance b\- the 
secretarv of the interior, which for the lands in Becker Countv was 



2o8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

the 23rd of September 1870, consequently any person with a pre- 
emption right, who settled on any of these odd numbered sections 
in Becker County before that date, could hold the land and make 
final proof and payment at the rate of $1.25 per acre. 

A homestead would not hold on these lands, even if taken before 
they were withdrawn, as such right was held not to be good until a 
homestead was filed, and such filing could not be made until after 
the lands were surveyed and the plats returned to the land ofiice. 
and none of the plats of Becker County townships were returned 
to any land office for nearly a year after the odd numbered sec- 
tions became railroad lands. At that same date, September 23rd, 
1870, all even numbered sections within the twenty mile limit 
became double minimum land, and when taken after that date 
must be paid for when pre-empted, at the rate of $2.50 per acre. 
One hundred and sixty acres could be pre-empted at that rate, 
but only eighty acres could be taken as a homestead and when a 
homestead was commuted it must be paid for at the same price 
per acre. A soldier of the civil war, however, could homestead 
one hundred and sixty acres and, if he so desired, the length of 
time served in the army or navy could be deducted from the five 
year residence required. 

A few years afterwards congress passed a law allowing all cit- 
izens of the United States to homestead one hundred and sixty 
acres inside the land grants of the railroads. The Northern Pacific 
railroad company in the course of time received patents from the 
United States Government, and a deed from them is considered as 
good as a patent from the government. A small part of the land 
in Becker County was located with Sioux half-breed scrij^t. a 
kind of ingenious device for getting hold of valuable lands before 
they were surveyed, and without settling on the same. This script 
was issued to mixed bloods for one hundred and sixty acres, in 
consideration of relinquishing all rights or claims on the general 
government for annuities or other means of support in the future. 
This script was transferable, and any government land could be 
taken with it, whether surveyed or not, and frequently after any 
one tract of land had been held for a while, the script would be 
lifted and laid on another tract of greater value. Two hundred and 
eighty acres of land, including the grove of pine timber on a part 
of Sections 22, 23 and 26, in the town of Erie, a little west of the 
Otter Tail River, where the old pine stumps now are standing at 
the present time along the Shell Prairie road, was taken bv this 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 209 

script, also a forty on Section 2, in the town of Burlington, now a 
part of the Pearce farm. 

The only other class of lands in Becker County is the state 
land. As everyone knows all of sections numbered 16 and 36 were 
granted to the state for school purposes. Any person, however, 
with a pre-emption right, could before the repeal of that law hold 
one hundred and sixty acres of land on either of these sections, 
provided they settled on such land before the government section 
lines were established. 

Congress, also many years ago, granted to the several states, 
including Minnesota every forty acre tract or fraction which by 
the government surveys was shown to be more than half swamp. 
This grant was made to the several states with the understanding 
that the land so granted should be improved by ditching or other- 
wise, but by far the best and largest part of the state lands in Min- 
nesota w'ere given away with little or no profit to the state, before 
any such improvements were made. The first list of state swamp 
land ever transferred in Becker County was a three thousand acre 
list, granted to the Canon River Improvement Association, and 
sold to E. G. Holmes and A. H. Wilcox, in 1882. 

Lists of state swamp lands was also selected in Becker County 
by the Northern Pacific railroad company, the Great Northern and 
the Wisconsin and Minnesota roads. 

After these corporations had finished making selections of land 
under their grants, the refuse of this magnificent original state 
swamp land grant to Minnesota was appraised, and is now being 
sold by the state to private parties by the same method that school 
land is sold. 



2IO A PioxEER History of Becker County. 



Chapter XIII. 

THE FIRST INHAIITANTS. 

The first occupants of the territory, of ^vhat is now Becker 
County, of which we have any definite knowledge, were the 
Indians known as the Otter Tail band of Pillagers. They ranged 
over a considerable extent of country, but their favorite resort 
was the Otter Tail River, and the country adjacent thereto. 
This range of country was an ideal home, and a veritable para- 
dise for the Indians. The time was when buffalo were numerous, 
and men are still living who have killed them in Becker County. 
Still later, when the elk was very abundant, and not more than 
fifty or sixty }ears ago, elk meat was the principal source of 
food throughout northwestern Alinnesota, and later still u]) to 
the present time, venison was to be had in considerable quantity, 
but what was of far more value to them than all these were 
the numerous lakes stocked with countless numbers of fish of 
the finest quality, and the abundant supplies of wild rice that 
could be obtained around the borders of these lakes. Game 
might sometimes become scarce, and once in a long time the 
wild rice might fail, but the supply of fish was inexhaustible 
and never failing. Where is the Indian that would starve in the 
vicinity of any of these lakes before they were depleted of fish by the 
white man? 

Alexander Mackenzie, who explored Mackenzie River to the 
Arctic Ocean, in 1789, and who also led the first expedition across 
the North American Continent to the Pacific in 1793, and who 
was in those days the leading spirit of the northwestern fur 
trade, in writing of this country more than one hundred years 
ago said: "There is not. perhaps, a finer country in the world 
for the residence of uncivilized man, than that which occupies 
the space betwen the Red River of the North and Lake Su- 
perior. It abounds in everything necessar}- to the wants and 
comfort of such a people. Fish, venison and fowl, with wild 
rice are in great plenty, while at the same time, their subsistence 
recpiires that bodily exercise so necessary to health and vigor." 

Up to the time of the Sioux outbreak in 1862, and the ex- 
pulsion soon afterwards of the Sioux from ^Minnesota and the 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 211 

eastern Dakotas. the Chippewas in this vicinity were hable to 
frequent .raids from these Indians, and bloody battles were fought 
in some of the adjoining counties. Many years ago the Sioux 
held possession of the Otter Tail River country for some time, 
and the numerous mounds along the river, and in other parts of 
the country are said by the Chippewas to have been built by the 
Sioux. Some of these mounds are of considerable size, especially 
those near the outlet of Height of Land Lake, some of them 
being ten or twelve feet high with a base of thirty or forty feet 
in breadth. There are others quite prominent on the farm of 
L J. Collins, near Frazee, also three or four a little west of 
the bridge across the Otter Tail River on Section 2^,, in Erie 
Township, some near Round Lake on the White Earth Reserva- 
tion, some at Shell Lake, and two or three near Detroit Lake on 
the little prairie a few rods west of where the Pelican River flows 
into the lake. 

A\'hen the Sioux left Becker County as a place of abode, 
no one appears to be able to tell, but it must have been more 
than one hundred years ago. The date of their final relinquish- 
ment is the 19th of August, 1825. 

The ( )tter Tail band occupied the country as individuals and 
families, but I can find no trace of anything resembling the ap- 
pearance of a village, or ])ermanent headquarters for the habita- 
tions of the people anywhere in the county, previous to the settle- 
ment of the Indians at ^^d'lite Earth in 1868. There were, how- 
ever, occasional temporary gatherings, and the outlet of Height 
of Land Lake was the most frequent place of rendezvous. This, 
by the way, was the most beautiful and romantic spot in Becker 
County and would have been an admirable place for a white man's 
village. Aside from its natural loveliness and ease of access 
there had been a fish trap built across the Otter Tail River, a 
short distance below the outlet, a long time ago, where fish could 
be secured in abundance at all seasons of the year. At the upper 
end of Height of Land Lake and the two lakes first above men- 
tioned were the most extensive and valuable wild rice beds in the 
whole region of country ; all of which made the vicinity of 
Height of Land Lake a kind of wigAvam metropolis for the Otter 
Tail Indians on various occasions. 

^lany of the Pine Point and Otter Tail Indians were born 
in Becker Count v. lohn Rock was l)orn at Flovd Lake near 



212 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Detroit in 1844, and Kab-a-mab-hie was born at Rice Lake, three 
miles south of Frazee, a short time afterwards. 

While there was constant warfare between the Sioux and 
Chippewas, and the Chippewas living in Becker County were 
kept in a state of perpetual dread and anxiety from fear of the 
Sioux, there is no record or remembrance on the part of any of 
the older people of any actual fighting', of any importance in 
Becker County. 

Wars and battles, which are so largely interwoven into the 
history of nearly all the nations of the earth, and of which it is 
largely made up, have no place in its history or traditions. Not 
a trace or scent of the smoke of battle can be found through all 
the dim and hazy recollections of the past. The white-winged 
dove of peace has faithfully and successfully watched and hovered 
over the destinies of Becker County, as far back as the memory 
and knowledge of the red man can reach. 

In the meantime many bloody tragedies were enacted in Ut- 
ter Tail and other neighboring counties. A terrible battle was 
fought between the Sioux and Chippewas at Battle Lake in Otter 
Tail County, more than one hundred years ago. W. W. Warren, 
the historian of the Chippewa Nation, in giving an account of 
this battle in 1851 says, that it was fought fifty-seven years ago. 
This w^ould place the date of the battle in the year 1794. 

A war party of forty-five Chippewas, belonging to the Mis- 
issippi band, recklessly attacked a camp of three or four hundred 
Sioux, who were partly concealed in a grove of timber on the 
snores of one of these lakes. Soon after the fighting began 
the Chippewas retreated to a patch of tall grass which afforded 
them a temporary protection, but the Sioux swarmed around 
them, and outnumbering them eight to one. the little band 
was nearlv annihilated, two-thirds of their number leaving their 
bones on the battlefield. The Sioux also sufi'ered terribly ; losing 
a far greater number of warriors than the Chippewas. 



The Dead Lake Massacre. 

Basswood, a Chippewa Lidian, belonging to the original band 
of the Otter Tail Pillagers, and who is now seventy-four years 
old, still resides at the south end of Basswood Lake. His land 
is in Sections 34 and 35, Township 142, Range 37. His father lived 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 213 

there before him and there is where he died. Basswood's home 
has been in the same place all his lifetime, although he and 
his father have been away frequently on hunting" excursions, 
some of which were of considerable length. 

There is a good sized island in the lake covered with a heavy 
growth of Basswood timber, which in years gone by served as 
an asylum of retreat and seclusion for the Basswood family, 
whenever a war party of Sioux invaded the neighborhood. 

I questioned him regarding the relations of the Chippewas 
toward the Sioux in his younger days, and he stated that while 
there was much fighting between the two nations from fifty 
to seventy-five years ago, he never knew of any battles being 
fought in what is now Becker County, but that when a boy, 
there was a battle fought between the Sioux and the Chippewas 
at Grave Lake in Otter Tail County. I told him I had never 
heard of Grave Lake. He replied that it was not more than 
fifteen miles from Frazee, and lay directly west from Rvish Lake 
only a few miles. I told him it must be Dead Lake, and he 
said I was right ; the proper name was the Lake of the Dead. 
He was not present at the battle, but referred me to another 
Indian by the name of Ma-king who was there on that fatal 
occasion. Ma-king lives about four miles north of Pine Point, 
and I looked him up. He is now (1905) about seventy years 
old and in poor health. He stated that he was born on the 
north side of Detroit Lake, where the village by that name now 
stands, and his home has been within the limits of what is 
now Becker County ever since. \A hen he was a boy, some- 
where between the age of five and ten years, and as near as 
we could figure it out, with the help of Frank Smith, our inter- 
preter, about the year 1843 or 1844, there was a terrible slaughter 
at Dead Lake. It was not much of a battle, but was cold- 
l)loode(l murder, a veritable massacre of old men, women and 
children. The able-bodied men of the Chippewa camp had gone 
away either on a hunting excursion or warlike expedition, and had 
left their old men and their own families, to the number of about 
fifty people, in the seclusion of a heavily timbered point of land 
on the east shore of Dead Lake. This place is fifteen miles 
from the Becker County line and is nearly due south from 
Frazee. 

After living there for a few days in fancied security, they 
were suddenly surprised by a war party of Sioux, who came 



214 A PioNKEK History of Becker County. 

in from the east on the land side and fired upon the defenceless 
camp without a moment's warning. Nearly half of the party 
were shot down at the first fire, includint;" nearly every man 
in the camp. 

There was great consternation and excitement among' the 
Chippewas and they undertook to scatter away into the woods 
for shelter, but every avenue of retreat was cut oft' in that di- 
rection, and their only recourse was to take to their canoes, three 
or four of wdiich were soon loaded down with women and 
children. Many of them were shot while fleeing across the water. 
Only one of the old men and thirteen women and children escaped. 
All the others, between thirty and forty were killed. Ala-king, 
his mother and a small brother escaped. His father had been 
killed the winter before by the Sioux in the vicinity of Red River. 

This tragedy is corroborated by Henry Way, who settled 
in Otter Tail County more than forty years ago, and who heard 
it related frequently by the Indians as having occurred something 
like twenty years before that time. He says that the lake went 
by the name of the Lake of the Dead in those days. 




o 
< 



2i6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter XIV. 

BIRCH BARK CANOES AND CANOE TRAVEL. 

The most common method of travel by the Indians originally, 
in what is now Becker County, was by water, by means of birch- 
bark canoes. There were formerly plain, well beaten canoe or 
portage trails between all the principal lakes of the country. 
The Otter Tail, Pelican, Buffalo and Shell Rivers were navigable 
for canoes, in many pices of considerable length, and these 
added to the many lakes in the county, made travel by water 
much easier and more feasible than by land. It is true that 
portages had to be made quite frequently, but their loads of 
freight were light, and as one person could easily carry a canoe 
over his head from one lake to another, the time and labor 
required to make one of these portages was but little more than a 
sort of recreation, or rest from the monotony of paddling the 
canoe. 



How Canoes Are Made. 

The following is from Neil's History of Minnesota: 

"In the summer of 1826, General Lewis Cass, after concluding a treaty 
with the Indians at the head of Lake Superior, determined to return in a 
birch bark canoe. 

Immediately a large force of women and children were set to work 
and built him a canoe thirty-six feet in length by five feet in width. 

Stakes were driven into the ground the desired length of the canoe, 
and then rolls of birch bark, stripped from the tree unbroken and stitched 
together with the fine roots of the tamarack, were placed within the en- 
closure and secured to the stakes. Cross pieces of cedar were then inserted, 
producing the desired form, and constituting the ribs or framework. 

After the birch bark was properly sewed to the frame, the stakes were 
pulled from the ground, the seams covered with pine pitch that the water 
could not enter." 

After awhile ponies came into use, and still later the Red 
River cart was introduced, the first of which I have any knowl- 
edge being made by Alexander Henry in the fall of 1802, and in 
which goods were brought from Red River to Red Lake. 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 217 



Chapter XV. 

THE OLD RED RIVER ROAD. 

When the whites first came to Becker county they found an 
old, well-beaten road running" across the county. There were 
three distinct trails in the road, showing that it had been exten- 
sively used for vehicles drawn by a single animal. The road en- 
tered Becker County on the south, between the two lakes on the 
south line of Section 36, of Burlington Township, nearly a mile 
east of where the Northern Pacific Railroad crosses the county line. 
It crossed the Otter Tail River a little below the lower Frazee dam, 
and a little above the present bridge on the Silver Leaf road and pass- 
ed up through the town of Burlington very near where the Northern 
Pacific Railroad has since been located, reaching Detroit Lake at 
the mouth of Sucker Creek, half a mile south of the club house. A 
little before reaching the present site of the club house the road took 
to the gravelly beach of the lake, which it followed for some 
distance, and again took to the water's edge where it crossed the 
Pelican River in Detroit Township. It then passed up by the 
old Tyler House, wound around into the southeast corner of the 
original townsite of Detroit, then back around by F. B. Chapin's 
house, thence northeasterly about half way between the Rich- 
wood road and the Pelican River, thence around nearly to where 
John O. French now resides, thence west along the south shore 
of Floyd Lake, then to the nortH shore of Oak Lake. 

From there it wound its way northwest, and then north 
through the west part of Sections 7 and 6 of Detroit, then up 
through the western tier of sections in Richwood. then crossed 
the Buffalo River at the old bridge, and thence in a northerly 
direction across the White Earth Reservation to Pembina. 

All efforts to ascertain the date of the first travel over this 
road have been fruitless. My opinion is that the road was opened 
up soon after the dividing line was agreed upon by the Sioux and 
Chippewas between their respective territories, which was on the 
19th of August, 1825. The only road connecting the settlements 
of Pembina on the lower Red River and Fort Snelling and other 
points on the Mississippi lower down, before that time, passed 
through where St. Cloud, Alexandria and McCauleyville have 



2l8 



A PiuxiiKK History ov Ukckf.r County. 



since been located, 1)}' \vhich all traYel to and from the Red River 
coiintrv was oljlii;e(l to go through the heart of the Sioux coun- 
try, Avhereas a road through by the new route would pass 
through a section of country owned altogether by the Chippewas, 
and would be considered much safer, as the Sioux even in that 
day were considered a nation of cut-throats, and were called the 
''cut-throat Sioux," further west, by the French a long time ago. 
The most remote date of the use of this road which I have been 
able to obtain is given in an extract from a letter from Hon. R. 
j\I. Probsfield of Moorhead. He says : 

I do not know when the old road was first established, but was told 
by Norman W. Kittson that he used that trail in the late thirties, say 
between 1837 and 1840, on his way to and from Prairie Du Chien, Wis- 
consin and Pembina and Ft. Gary, now Winnipeg. 




ANSON NORTHUP. 



THE FIRST STE.\MBO.\T OX' RED RI\"ER. 

The Anson Northup expedition with the machinery of the old North 
Star steamboat passed over this same route. The North Star was dis- 
mantled at the mouth of Gull River, on the Mississippi and from there 
it was all hauled on sleds to the Red River, opposite the mouth of the 
Sheyenne, where it empties into Red River. 



A PioxKKR History of Becker County. 219 

I left St. Paul on February 26th, 1859, and arrived at Sauk Rapids 
on the 28th, with a span of horses and wagon. There was no snow on 
the ground so far, but I was here informed that I could go no further 
than Piatt River with a wagon, so I bought a light sled and loaded my 
wagon onto it. We stopped at Luther's, about half way between Piatt 
River and Swan River that night, where I left my wagon, and loaded our 
truck onto the sled and made Crow Wing the following night. We ar- 
rived at Otter Tail City on the fourth or fifth of ^Nlarch and stopped with 
old ^McDonald where we found a part of the Northup expedition. An- 
other part of the expedition had gone ahead to build a bridge across the 
Otter Tail River at one of the upper crossings, as the river was not 
frozen over. The snow was deep, some sixteen or eighteen inches. The 
bridge was built for the boiler and other heavy machinery. Arriving in 
tlie woods that surround Detroit Lake on the southeast side we struck 
the farthest advanced camp where some of the lightest of the freight had 
been hauled to. Listead of following the old trail around Detroit Lake, 
we crossed it on the ice straight over to a point of prairie, probably a 
little less than a mile east of where the court house now stands. There 
was a log cabin there, a claim shanty of old McDonald's, where I suppose 
he had traded with the Indians at intervals, but no one was there at the 
time when we arrived. 

Heavy snow fell after that, making the rest of our journey long, 
tedious and perilous, getting out of forage for our teams, and the last 
day also out of provisions for the men. 

The Northup Expedition left the old road about a mile west of Oak 
Lake and about three miles east of where Audubon is now and traveled 
by compass in a northwesterly direction to a point on the Red River 
opposite the mouth of the Sheyenne. a place called Lafayette, abotit five 
miles from where Georgetown is now. The details of that trip would 
fill a good volume. 

The planking of the hull of the steamboat was sawed out of Red River 
oak. by hand power whipsaw. operated by three men. 

R. ~SL Probsfield. 

The trail made by Mr. r*rol)stield and his party, from the old 
road a mile west of Oak Lake, to Lafayette on the Red RiYer, 
afterwards became a well traYeled road, and was nuich used by 
the Indians, half-breeds and fur traders, after that time. It 
crossed the Buffalo River near the corners of Sections y, 10, 15 
and 16 in the township of Cuba. 



The Leech Lake Road. 

In the summer of 1868, the L^nited States Government opened 
up a road between Leech Lake and White Earth. This road in 
t^oini;- west, passed through what is now Osage and Carsonville. 
not far from where the main road passing through Park Rapids. 



220 A Pionee;r History of Becker County. 

Osage and Ponsforcl now runs, only it cut straight across the 
country instead of following section lines ; and on the Reservation 
it ran, most of the way, in the same location as the old road now 
in use. 



Chapter XVI. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT BY WHITE PEOPLE. 

The first occupation of the soil of Becker County by white 
people, of which we have knowledge, was in October 1802, when 
a small trading post was established at White Earth by men in 
the employ of the Northwest Fur Company. They, however, re- 
mained there but a short time. This post was run by a man 
by the name of Duford. During that same month, October 1802, 
a small trading post was established at Shell Lake, in what is 
now Shell Lake Township, by William Morrison, the man who 
first discovered Lake Itasca and the extreme head waters of the 
Mississippi River a year later. 

In 1854, Donald McDonald, of Otter Tail Lake, built a log- 
house on the northeast shore of Detroit Lake, on the little prairie 
a few rods west of where the Pelican River enters the lake. After 
trading there with the Indians about two years he returned to 
Otter Tail. 

In the year 1867 a treaty was made at Washington by which 
various tribes of Indians, residing along the Mississippi River, 
were to be removed to White Earth the ensuing year. Arrange- 
ments were accordingly made that fall by which one million feet 
of pine logs were cut and banked on the east side of White 
Earth Lake during the winter of 1867-8 to be sawed into lumber 
for the use of the Indians the ensuing year. These logs were 
cut by men in the employ of Wm. Thompson and Fred Peake. 
who had been awarded the contract for banking" the logs, and 
they all returned to their homes below with the advent of spring. 
This was the first party of men to begin operations at White 
Earth. 

About the last of April 1868 a small party of men was sent to 
White Earth from Crow Wing, by Major J. B. Bassett, the 
Indian agent, to begin farming operations. A contract was 
made with Joseph W. Wakefield to break 240 acres of land for 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 221 

the Indians, and about the 25th of April a small party of white 
men was sent to White Earth with teams to do this work. Paul 
H. Beaulieu was the leader of this party. He had been recently 
appointed to the position of Government farmer at the agency 
about to be established and was sent with this advance party to 
select and survey out the land to be plowed and to take charge 
of afifairs generally until such time as the agent himself should 
arrive. They arrived at White Earth about the loth of May, 
and Paul remained in the county, and as he was the only one 
of the party that did remain he is entitled to the honor of being 
the first pioneer settler with white blood in his veins to settle 
permanently in Becker County. The first white person to settle in 
Becker County, outside the reservation, was Patrick Ouinlan, 
who settled on the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter 
of Section 35, of Burlington Township, a few rods north of the 
county line, on the 28th of May 1868. He supposed at the time 
that he had located in Otter Tail County, but none of the coun- 
ty or township lines had been established at that time. When 
the Chippewa Indians passed by his place, a few days afterwards, 
on their way to their new homes at White Earth, and also when 
the Henry Way party passed a few days still later, he told them 
all that he was living in Otter Tail County, which led Way and 
Sherman to belive they were the first white settlers in Becker 
County, but after the line between Becker and Otter Tail coun- 
ties was run by W. W. Howard in the summer of 1870, Ouinlan 
found himself living in Becker County. 

Quinlan's wife was a full-blooded Chippewa and this circum- 
stance leaves the ^^"ay-Sherman party entitled to the honor of 
being the first party of "simon-pure" white people to settle in 
Becker County. 

On the 14th day of June, 1868, the first installment of Indians, 
about 150 in number, came to White Earth under the direction 
of Maj. J. B. Bassett, then Indian Agent, and under the guidance 
of Truman A. Warren; and another large party came in 1S69, 
making several hundred who had gone to White Earth during 
those two years. 

On the 28th day of June, 1868, Henry Way, Almon A\'. 
Sherman and L. D. Sperry took up claims near Oak Lake in 
what is now Detroit Township. They put up hay and returned 
to their families at Clitheral. Sherman moved to Oak Lake that 
same fall and they and Ouinlan were all the wdiite people to winter 



222 A I'loxEKR History ok IjKckkr County. 

in Becker County during" the winter of 1868 and 1869 outside the 
reservation. In the spring of 1869 Way and Sperry came back 
from Clitheral with their famiUes, and in the month of June, fol- 
lowing, three Norwegians, John F. Beaver, Chris. Anderson and 
Fred Johnson, located in the western part of what is now Audubon 
Township. 

A little later on another party, mostly relatives of Way and 
Sherman, came and located a little south of the three Xorwegians 
in the same township. This party consisted of Buckly B. Ander- 
son, wife and seven children, Jackson Burdick, a son-in-law of 
B. B. Anderson, wife and three children and Harvev Jones, a single 
man who took land on Section 18. 

Along in October of that same year. Dr. David Pyle, who had 
been appointed government physician at AA^hite Earth, came and 
located in the same vicinit}' and remained there the most of the 
winter. Two other men came with him, whose names were M. 
L. Devereaux and David lieveridge. The three men brought a 
shingle mill with them, and made bass wood shingles during the win- 
ter of 1869 and 1870, on what is now Section 18 of Audubon Town- 
ship. Mark AA'arren wintered somewhere in the county, and also 
another man by the name of Talmage, who lived in a dug-out ; on 
what is now Section 20, of Audubon Township. 

We are now able to make a pretty accurate list of all the people, 
who wintered in Becker Count\- during tlu' winter of 1869 and 
1870, outside the White Earth Reser^•ation. 

IN WHAT IS NOW BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP: 
Patrick Quinlan. 
Mrs. Patrick Quinlan. 
Joseph Quinlan, a small boy. 

IN WHAT IS NOW DETROIT TOWNSHIP: 
Henry Way. 
Mrs. Henry Way. 
Dora Wa>-. 
Nellie Way. 
Fanny Way. 

Almon W. Sherman. (Died during the Winter.) 
Mrs. Almon W. Sherman. 
Alma Sherman. 
Dee Sherman. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 22.^ 

Mrs. Lyois Cutler, mother of Mrs. Sherman. 

Lois Anderson, granddaughter of Mrs. Sherman. 

Dewitt Sperry. 

Mrs. Dewitt Sperry. 

Ella Sperry, Frank Sperry, children of Dewitt Sperry. 

Alice Sperry, niece of Dewitt Sperry. 

Mrs. Barbary Stillman, mother of Mrs. Sperry. 

IN WHAT IS NOW AUDUBON TOWNSHIP: 
Christen Anderson. 
Mrs. C. Anderson. 

Annie Anderson, daughter of Chris. Anderson. 
John F. Beaver. 

Mrs. John F. Beaver. (Died in the spring of 1870). 
Frederick Johnson. 
Buckley B. Anderson. 
Mrs. B. B. Anderson. 
Jedediah Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Edward Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Richard Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Elva Anderson, daughter of B. B. Anderson. 
Freeman Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Miron Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Andrew Anderson, son of B. B. Anderson. 
Jackson Burdick, son-in-law of B. B. Anderson. 
Mrs. Jackson Burdick. 

Ida Burdick, daughter of Jackson Burdick. 
Eunice Eurdick, daughter of Jackson Burdick. 
Oren Burdick, son of Jackson Burdick. 
Harvey Jones. 
David Pyle. 
M. L. Devereaux. 
David Beveridge. 
Mark Warren. 
Talmage. 

The census of 1870 gives the population of Becker County as 
308. These figures are misleading, as to my certain knowledge 
there were not more than sixty people in the county on the first 
day of June of that year outside the White Earth Reservation, so 



224 A Pioneer HISTuR^' oe Becker County. 

that the other 238 reported at the time must have been mostly on 
the reservation, and nearl}^ all of them Indians. 

In the summer of 1869, a party sent out to explore a route for 
the Northern Pacific Railroad, passed through the county from the 
west, and among them was John ( ). French, now of Detroit 
Township, who was connected with the party. 

In the summer of 1870, the probability that the Northern Pa- 
cific Railroad would pass through the county brought quite an 
influx of settlers, too many to mention in detail at the present 
time, but they will be accounted for under the heading of the dif- 
ferent townships. 

At the beginning of the year 1879, there was not a single set- 
tler in the whole region of country east of the Otter Tail River, 
which includes rather more than the eastern half of the county. 
That summer J. F. Siegford, his son, Frank Siegford, George M. 
Carson, A. W. Sanderson, and C. E. Bullock, opened the wa}' and 
led the van-guard of pioneers to the beautiful prairies of Osage 
and Carsonville, that have since developed into one of the most 
thriving and ])rosperous communities in the county. 

The timbered to\vnshi])s were somewhat slower to settle, but 
at the present time (1905) there is scarcely a cjuarter section of 
government land in the count}- without a settler. 

The first white girl born in the county was Clara D. W'ay, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Way, who were then living at 
Oak Lake in I^etroit Township. She was Ijorn on the 20th of 
July 1870. The first white boy born in Becker County was Olaus 
Reep, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sevald Reep, who was born on the 29th 
day of July 1871 and recorded January 20th, 1872. 

The first death among the white settlers was that of Alnion W. 
Sherman, who died at Oak Lake on the 31st day of December, 
1869. 

The first white people to g"et married in the county were L J. 
Hanson and Annis Mix, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Mix, 
who were married by Rev. J. E. Wood on the 22d day of October 
1871. 

Frank M. Campbell of White Earth took the census of Becker 
County in 1870. 

The first deed of conveyance for land in Becker County was 
made by Christen Anderson to the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
panv, for the west half of the southwest road of Section 8. in 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 225 

the present township of Aiuhibon. This deed was made the nth 
day of July, 1871, and recorded January 20th, 1872. 

The first mortgage in Becker County was made by Ole Peter- 
son to Knute Nelson, present United States senator. The mort- 
gage was for $200, and was on the east half of the southwest 
quarter of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, and lot 
5 of Section 4, in the present township of Audubon. 

The mortgage was dated January 9th, 1872. 

The first school in Becker County was taught by Mrs. Julia 
A. Spears at White Earth in the fall of 1870. 

The first school in Becker County, outside the reservation was 
taught by Miss Nancy M. Comstock, in the fall of 1871, in a house 
belonging to Henry Way, in what is now school district number 
three in Audubon Township. The first school taught in Becker 
Count}^ in a legally organized school district, was in district 
number one in the village of Detroit, by Miss Lottie Frank, be- 
ginning on the second day of July 1872. 

The first religious service in Becker County was held at White 
Earth by the Rev. John Johnson, (Enmegahbowh), in the fall of 
1868. 

The first religious service in Becker County, outside the reser- 
vation, was held by the Rev. Dr. Lord on the shore of Floyd 
Lake on the 22d of August 1869, at the camp of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad exploring expedition. 

The first religious service ever held in Becker County with a 
full audience of Becker County people, and by a minister residing 
in this part of Minnesota, was conducted by the Rev. T. Watleson 
at the house of John F. Beaver in what is now Audubon Town- 
ship, on the sixth of November 1870. 

Father Gurley was the first resid'ent minister in Becker Coun- 
ty, outside the reservation, coming here as missionary for the 
Ncirthern Pacific Railroad, under the auspices of the Methodist 
churcli in July 187 1. 



226 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



William Morrison. 




WILLIAM MORRISON. 



William Morrison, one of Becker County's earliest white set- 
tlers, was born in Montreal, Canada, March 7th, 1785. 

His father was a Scotch immigrant named Allan Morrison, a 
native of Stornoway, on the Lewis, one of the Hebrides or west- 
ern Isles, forming part of Scotland, and his mother a Canadian 
French lady named Jane for Jessie) Wadin. 



A PioxiiER History of Bkcker County. 227 

William having received a common school education, commenced 
clerking in a store in Montreal before he was fifteen years of age. 

Montreal was at that time the home and general headquarters 
of the British and Canadian fur traders, who came down the 
Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers, in mackinaw boats and birch- 
bark canoes, every summer, with their winter's collection of furs, 
and returned the same season, to the far Northwest, with a new 
supply of goods for the next winter's business. 

The few avenues to fortunes presented to the ambitious young 
men by the Canada of that day, coupled with the tales of adven- 
tures, and stories of the large profits made in the fur trade, fired 
young Morrison's ambition, and he at the early age of sixteen, was 
apprenticed by his father with the Northwest Fur Company, then 
the great rival of the more ancient Hudson's Bay Company, and 
started for old Grand Portage on Lake Superior, the Company's 
western headquarters, with the returning boats. 

The next year, in 1802, he was sent to Leech Lake and thence 
to an outpost on the headwaters of one of the streams tributary to 
the Crow Wing River, from which point they collected furs from 
their Indian hunters scattered through what is now Becker and 
Otter Tail Counties. These Indians were Pillager Chippewas, 
and from information gathered from some of the old Indians I 
knew at Leech Lake in 1870, and who remembered well "Sha-gah- 
nansh-eence," the "Little Englishman," as he was called by the 
Chippewas, I would locate this outpost at Shell Lake. 

In 1803-4 Morrison wintered at Upper Rice Lake on the head- 
waters of the \\^ild Rice River, and it was during that winter and 
the spring of 1804 that he visited Lake Itasca and the various 
smaller lakes which form part of the source of the Mississippi River. 
No white man had ever visited that country before Morrison, and 
he rightfully claimed to be the discoverer of the source of this 
great river, although Nicollet, Beltrami and Schoolcraft all claim- 
ed this honor several years later. 

It being the policy of the Northwest Fur Company not to allow 
any of its traders to remain more than one or two years at the 
same outpost, Morrison was, in this manner, enabled to visit many 
places, and became well acquainted with the fur resources of a 
vast territory ; the knowledge so acquired soon proved of great 
value to him. 



228 A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 

His industrious habits and natural shrewdness, coupled witli 
his ability to handle the rough "Yoyageurs" and his po])ularit}- 
among the Indians, soon attracted the notice of his employers, and 
after several years spent in managing various trading posts in 
Minnesota, he was placed in charge of a number of them, with 
headquarters at Sandy Lake, on the upper ]\Iississi])pi River. It 
was while stationed there that an incident occurred, illustrating his 
popularity with, and influence over the Indians. 

Tecumseh's brother, "The I'rophet," had sent out his tobacco 
to all the western and northwestern tribes, with a secret message 
to the Indians to join him in a general massacre of the whites in 
the Indian country. 

Such was the reputation and influence of this famous grand 
medicine man, the prophet, over the Indians, that although the 
Chippewas were of a peaceful disposition and had no great cause 
of complaint against their traders, they dared not refuse the invi- 
tation. The tobacco sent was smoked in secret council, the Indians 
withdrew away from the trading posts, and generally assumed an 
unfriendly attitude. 

Morrison had left Sandy Lake and gone on a business trip to 
Fond du Lac, to meet with the other chief traders and the manag- 
ing board of the Northwest Company. While there, messengers 
came in from Sandy Lake and a number of other trading posts, 
with reports, that the Indians were acting in an unfriendly manner, 
and that their actions indicated there was mischief a brewing, but 
none of the traders' employes could find out what the trouble was. 

The assembled traders decided that Morrison was the only one 
able to get the secret out of the Indians, and he started at once for 
Sandy Lake, his own post, with the messenger who had brought 
die report. They had a light l)irch canoe and traveled rapidly, so 
that on the forenoon of the third day they paddled out of Prairie 
River into Sandy Lake. 

Some young Indians, wdio were returning from a deer hunt, 
recognizing him. hurried home to spread the news, that the "Little 
Englishman" was coming home. From stray hints heard while at 
Fond du Lac, Morrison had made up his mind that "The Prophet" 
was at the bottom of the trouble, and he soon decided on his plan 
of action. Paddling close to the shore he was soon opposite the 
wigwams of the Indians, but contrary to custom he never stopped 
to enquire about the news and kept on as if in a great hurry. This 



A I'loMvEK HiSTuRV OF BECKER CoUXTV. 229 

nettled the suspicious Indians, and one of them was sent on to 
intercept Morrison above one of the small portages which cut 
across the points formed by the long bends of the Mississippi River, 
below the mouth of the Sandy Lake River. His face was painted 
black, and as Morrison did not seem to notice him, the Indian hailed 
the canoe, when the paddlers stopped. "You seem to be in great 
hurry," said the Indian, "what news where you come from?" "Xoth- 
ing," answered Morrison, "and what is going on here?" "Nothing 
here either." Then Morrison slowly began paddling away ; stopping 
suddenly, he half turned around saying: "Oh yes, there is some 
news I was forgetting. The great medicine man, "The Prophet." has 
been killed by the Long Knives, (the Americans). Then he re- 
sumed paddling and soon reached his stockade, a short distance 
down the Mississippi. The next day the Indians flocked in and 
resumed friendly relations, without showing the least sign of ill 
feeling. 

As luck would have it, messengers came a few days afterwards 
from Lake Superior, confirming his report of the death of "The 
Prophet," and all circumstances connected with the plot came out. 

It was a lucky hit. Morrison had calculated that if he could 
get the Indians to come around, he would succeed in getting them 
started out deer hunting, birch-bark raising, etc., and get them 
scattered, so they could not spend their days of idleness in plotting 
more mischief. 

William Morrison stayed with the Northwest Fur Company 
until in 1816, when being oiYered better inducements, he joined 
the American Fur Company (John Jacob Astor's), and was placed 
in charge of the department of Fond du Lac, with headquarters at 
Old Superior. Wisconsin. This department embracing within its 
territory. Lake Vermillion, Red Lake, Sandy Lake. Leech Lake, 
Lake Winnebagoshish, Cass Lake, Otter Tail Lake, Crow \Wihg 
on the Mississippi, and Grand Portage on Lake Superior. He re- 
mained in charge of John Jacob Astor's business there until 1826, 
when having acquired what was called a competency for those 
days, he retired from the fur trade and returned to Canada. There 
he purchased a large island, since known as Morrison's Island, in 
the St. Lawrence River, between Old Fort William Henry, now 
Sorel, on the south shore, and Berthier-en-Haut, on the north shore 
of the river. 

For some years he was engaged in farming, but pastoral life 
was too quiet and unexciting for his active mind, and after a few 



230 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

years spent on the farm, he settled in Berthier, where for many 
years he carried on a mercantile business, and was also judge of 
the county court. 

While trading in the upper [Mississippi country, he married a 
Pillager Chippewa woman, by whom he had two boys and a girl. 
His wife dying soon after the birth of the last born, the children 
were, according to Indian custom, taken care of by the wife's 
mother, who always thereafter followed and lived with her grand- 
children. When Morrison left the Indian country in 1826, he made 
arrangements to take his three children with him, but on the eve of 
the day set for the departure of the boats, from Superior for Macki- 
noe, the grandmother stole the children and disappeared during 
the night. Search for them was made for several days, but with- 
out success, and they were necessarily left behind. They returned 
eventually to Leech Lake, and in course of time the two boys grew 
to be great hunters and warriors, and many Sioux scalps dangled 
from their belts whenever they went out with a war party. 

In spite of their Indian bringing up, and thanks to the good 
advice given them by their uncle, Allan Morrison, they never for- 
got that they were of white blood, and always exercised their in- 
fluence over their reckless tribesmen to keep them from molesting 
the whites, and but for the stand taken by Joseph, (or Ay-gans as 
the Indians called him), at Leech Lake during the outbreak of 
1862, there would have been a massacre of the em]:)lo}es and 
traders at the agency. 

Hole-in-the-day, head chief of the Mississippi Chippewas, had 
stirred up the Pillagers to such a pitch that they had robbed the 
stores and made the whites prisoners. They had met in several 
councils and the most reckless of them had decided that the whites 
must die the next morning. Ay-gans had taken an active part in 
the councils, but had always taken the part of the prisoners. At last, 
when he saw that all his efforts had been in vain, he got up and 
spoke about their comradeship in war and in the hunts, and also 
on their relationship to one another and of that law of nature which 
binds kin to kin, and then he bared his arm, displaying his light 
skin, saying: "You are talking of killing our white friends, and you 
say they must die tomorrow. Look at this arm ; it is light colored, the 
blood that runs through it is white man's blood, and when 
you kill our white friends you will kill me also." That last part of 
the speech was telling. Ay-gans was a brave man, and his last 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 231 

words, were to Indian ears, both defiant and threatening. The next 
morning other brave men took sides with the whites and their 
Hves were spared. They were marched down to Gull Lake as 
prisoners, and turned over to the care of the Gull Lake Indians, 
and afterwards liberated. 

Descendants of this Jos. !AIorrison are now settled on the Wild 
Rice River in Norman County, but formerly were a part of the 
first contingent of Otter Tail Chippewas, who removed with their 
father to Becker County in 1872, and settled around the present 
agency and the Old Trading Post. 

The daughter was taken into the family of one of the missionaries 
and followed them to Stillwater, where she married a German 
farmer, and died several years ago. Joseph died at Beaulieu, Minn., 
in January, 1889. His older brother Richard, or Dekaince, died at 
Otter Tail Lake about 1870. 

AA'illiam ^lorrison's second wife was a Miss Ronssain, daughter 
of a Fond du Lac, Minn., Indian trader. She was the mother of 
two sons and two daughters, and went with her husband to Canada, 
where she died a few years afterwards. William, the oldest of the 
two boys, left Canada for the west and eventually joining one of 
Col. Fremont's expeditions to the Pacific coast, went to Cali- 
fornia, where he settled and died about 1850. 

The younger son, Donald George, left Canada before he was 
twenty years of age, and worked his way through Michigan, Illi- 
nois and Wisconsin to Minnesota, where he settled in the Red River 
valley near the boundary line, and became a member of the Terri- 
torial Legislature of Minnesota. A few years later he settled in 
Old Superior, Wisconsin, where he was elected register of deeds 
of Douglas County, an office he held for years afterwards. He 
died in Superior, in 1898. 

After the death of his second wife, William Morrison found 
himself with four young children, with none but hired help to man- 
age and care for them, so after a couple years of this kind of exist- 
ence, he married Miss Elizabeth Ann Kittson, an elder sister oi 
the late Commodore N. W. Kittson of St. Paul, Minnesota. Four 
daughters were born of that union. 

Mrs. Morrison died in February, 1864, and her husband, who 
had been blind for several years, could not bear up long under the 
blow. He aged rapidly after this, and although surrounded by 
kind friends who endeavored by their attentions and company, to 
keep his mind interested in the events of the day, he lost all interest 



2^2 A PrONEER HiSTORV OF BeCKER CoUNTV. 

in life and gradually passed away. He died on Morrison's Island 
August /th, 1866, and was buried in Sorel, alongside of his last 
wife. 

In religion he was an Episcopalian, and in politics a Conserva- 
tive, and a strong supporter of the Canadian government in the 
troublesome years of 1837-38, and possessed of much influence 
with the authorities. This he used to good advantage after the 
rebellion, and was instrumental in saving the lives and liberty of 
many of his patriotic friends. 

The accompanying portrait was taken when he was about sixty- 
nine years of age. 

Geo. a. Morison. 



Mark Warren. 



The first man I ever saw in Becker County was Mark Warren. 
He was one of those eccentric characters, always found on the fron- 
tier, whose occupation can best be defined as fur trader and wild 
rover, and who usually disappeared with the advent of civilization. 

I found him near the southw'est corner of what is now Cormo- 
rant Township, in October 1870. I asked him where he lived, 
and he pointed to an old Red River cart that was standing near by 
and said that was all the home he possessed. He did not remain 
in the county more than a year or two longer, but I afterwards 
frequently camped with him both in Minnesota and Dakota, learn- 
ing something of his history, which had been very eventful. He 
was about forty years of age, a native of Vermont, well educated, 
and started out in life intending to become a lawyer. His life, 
however, about that time became blighted, the particulars of which 
he never gave me in full, but from occasional hints it was easy to 
surmise the cause that changed the whole future course of his life. 
He had been for many years engaged in buying furs from the 
Indians and frontier settlers, and for the last ten or fifteen years 
had been a rambler in this region of country. Sometime in the 
year 1865, he had gathered up a cart-load of furs and taken them 
to St. Paul, disposing of them at good prices, and returning by the 
Old Red River trail, camped at night near the Buffaki River. His 
camp was a little way off from the trail, and sometime in the night, 
someone entered his tent, struck him on the head with a club, then 
stabbed him in the breast with a knife and robbed him of $400 and 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 233 

left him for dead, ^^'hether the robber was a white man or an 
Indian was not known, as Warren did not see the vilhiin. When 
he l)ecame conscions, it was noon the following' day and he was 
scarcely able to move hand or foot, and lay in that condition until 
the second day, when he mustered up strength to crawl out to the 
cart trail, where he lay all that day and the next night. About 
noon of the third day, he was picked up by some Red River half- 
breeds, who took him to the nearest trading post, where he ho\- 
ered between life and death for a whole month, and it was a year 
before he fully recovered from the effects of this foul deed. 

AX'arren went from here to the A\'ild Rice River, and in the au- 
tumn of 1874, I found him on the l)ank.s of the Missouri, a little 
above Bismarck, in Dakota, and again in 1878, I found him further 
up the Missouri in a snug cabin, herding cattle and reading Black- 
stone. The last I heard of him was in the year 1895, when he 
had found a final resting place among the mountains of A\^voming. 



234 A Pione;e:r History of Becker County. 

Chapter XVII. 

NORTHERN PACIFIC EXPLORATIONS. 

The first route proposed for the Northern Pacific Railroad was 
to run from Duluth to St. Cloud and from thence to Breckenridge, 
as a feasible route was known to exist along that course, whereas 
most people had their doubts as to the practicability of building a 
railroad farther north. The first exploring expedition was fitted 
out in June, 1869, under the direction and management of George 
A. Bracket, of Minneapolis. Their first camp was pitched at 
Small Lake, a little w^est of St. Cloud on the 9th day of July, 1869. 

Accompanying the expedition was J. Gregory Smith, at that 
time governor of \'ermont, and also president of the X'orthern 
Pacific Railroad Company, Eugene M. Wilson, of Minneapolis, 
member of Congress from the third Minnesota district. Senator 
William Windom, the Rev. Dr. Lord of Chicago, Charles Carlton 
Coffin, correspondent of the Boston Journal, and among several 
others the financial agent of Jay Cook, a man whose name was 
Holmes. 

Pierre Bottineau, a Red River half-breed, and one of the most 
noted frontiersmen of the Northwest, was the guide of the party, 
and John C). French, now of Detroit Township, was his assistant. 

The party consisted of about seventy men, fifty-five of whom 
were teamsters ; twenty-five light wagons and buggies, and about 
thirty heavy wagons, loaded with provisions, baggage and general 
camping outfit. As they left St. Cloud, they made a very imposing 
procession, stretching out along the road for nearly half a mile in 
extent. They moved by easy stages, following the old Alexandria 
and Red River road, and in the course of about a week reached 
Fort Abercrombie, a frontier post occupied by United States 
troops. The party here divided, about one-half of them remaining 
behind to explore the Red River Valley and the country adjacent 
thereto in a direction north from Ft. Abercrombie. 

The other half of the expedition now procured the ser\'ices of a 
squad of twenty-five or thirty soldiers from Ft. Abercrombie, under 
the command of a lieutenant to serve as an escort, and then, under 
the leadership of Bottineau and French, proceeded to explore the 
country across the Dakota plains to the Missouri River. They 



A Pionee;r History of Becker County. 235 

crossed the Maple, Sheyenne and James Rivers, coming to the 
Missouri some distance north of where Bismarck now stands. 

At their camp near the James River they were fired upon, in 
the night, by a party of Sioux Indians and skirmishing with the 
pickets was quite hvely for a couple of hours, and was only brought 
to a close by the dawning of day. One soldier was slightly wounded. 

x\fter examining the approaches to the Missouri, and ascertain- 
ing the feasibility of a crossing, the party started back by a new 
route a little north of their outward trail, and about the 15th of Au- 
gust reached the Red River a little north of where Fargo now 
stands. Here they met the party which they had left at Ft. Aber- 
crombie a few weeks before. 

After a short rest, the united expedition crossed the Red River 
and started on their homeward journey in an easterly direction 
across the Red River flats, and on the 21st of August, 1869, camped 
for the night on the shores of Floyd Lake, in what is now Detroit 
Township. The next day being Sunday, the expedition rested 
from their journeying and the Rev. Dr. Lord held religious servi- 
ces at the camp, and preached the first sermon ever preached in 
Becker County by a white man of which we have any knowledge. 

At this camp at the southwest corner of Floyd Lake, Charles 
Carleton Coffin wrote a letter to the Boston Journal, giving a de- 
scription of the country in the western part of Becker County, and 
appropriately naming it the Park Region of Minnesota. 

The following is a copy of his letter: 

On our second day's march from Red River, we came to a section 
of country that might with propriety be called the Park Region of 
Minnesota. It lies amid the uplands of the divide. It is more beauti- 
ful even than the country around White Bear Lake in the vicinity 
of Glenwood. Throughout the day we rode amid such rural scenery 
as can only be found in the most lovely spots in New England. Think 
of an undulating country, gently rounded elevations with green slopes, 
of lawns and parks and countless lakes; calm waters reposing amid the 
low hills, skirted by forests, fringed with rushes, perfumed by lilies; or 
of the waves rippling on gravelly beaches, of wild geese, ducks, loons, 
pelicans and innumerable waterfowl building their nests amid the reeds 
and rushes; think of lawns blooming with flowers, of elk and deer browsing 
amid the meadows. This is their haunt. We see their tracks along the 
sandy beach, but they keep beyond the range of our rifles. 

So wonderfully has nature adorned this section of country, that it 
seems as if we were riding through a country that had long been under 
cultivation, and that beyond yonder hillock we shall find a mansion or at 
least a farm house. 



236 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

I do not forget that I am seeing this country at its best season, that 
it is midsummer, and that the winters are as long as in New England; but I 
can say without reservation that nowhere in the wide world, not even in 
England, the most finished of all lands; not in la belle France, or sunny 
Italy, or in the valley of the Ganges, or the Yangtze, or the slopes of the 
Sierra Nevadas in California have I beheld anything approaching this 
region of natural beauty. 

It was a pleasure, after three days' travel over trackless wilds, to come 
suddenly and unexpectedly upon a hayficld. There were the swathes newly 
mown. There was no farm-house in sight, no fenced fields, but the hay- 
makers had been at work in the vicinity. We were approaching civiliza- 
tion. Ascending the hill we came in sight of a settler, a pioneer. One of 
our party had already come up with him. and he informed us that we should 
find the old trail about a mile ahead. He had a long beard hanging to 
his breast; long, matted hair and a pale wrinkled countenance. He had 
come from Ohio in his youth and had always been a skirmisher on the 
advancing line of civilization. 

We struck the old trail about a mile west of Oak Lake. This trail 
was formerly traveled by the French and Indian traders, between the 
Mississippi River and Pembina, and had not been used much of late years. 
Striking that, we should have no trouble in reaching the settlements at 
Otter Tail forty miles southeast. 

Emigration travels fast. Four families have just made a beginning 
at Oak Lake on the old Red River trail. We reached the settlement on 
Saturday night. August 21st. and pitched our tent on the shore of Floyd 
Lake for the Sabbath. It was a rare treat for these people to come to 
our camp and hear a sermon from the Rev. Dr. Lord. The oldest person 
in the colony is a woman, now in her eightieth year, with eye undiminished, 
a countenance remarkably free from the marks of age. who walks with a 
firm step after three-score years of labor. Sixty years ago she left Lebanon, 
New Hampshire, a young wife, leaving her native hills for a home in the 
state of New York, then moving with the great army of emigrants to Ohio, 
Illinois, Missouri and Iowa in succession, and at last b'^ginning again in 
Minnesota. 

Last year her hair, which had been as white as the purest snov,% began 
to take on its original color, and is now <|uite dark. There are but few 
instances on record of such a renewal of youth. 

The women and children of these four families lived here all alone 
for six weeks while the men were away after the stock. On the fourth 
of July all hands traveled forty miles, to Rush Lake to celebrate the day. 
Store, church, school and post office are forty miles away and the nearest 
mills are fully as distant." 

The four families referred to were the Henry Way, Sherman, 
Sperry and Stillman families, who had settled the year before at 
Oak Lake. 

The settler referred to with the long- hair was a half hmy individttal 
by name of Talmage, who lived in a little dugout a mile or two 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 237 

southwest of where Audubon now stands. He left the country 
the next year. He is the man who cut the hay referred to in 
the letter above. 

The expedition then proceeded on its way to the east, the 
route followed by them being- very nearly identical with that 
now occupied by the Northern Pacific Railroad itself. This ex- 
pedition settled the location of the Northern Pacific between Du- 
luth and Moorhead, but another expedition was sent out the next 
year to make a farther examination of the country between the 
Red River and the Missouri. John (). French was also a mem- 
ber of this expedition, and to him I am indebted for a large part 
of the information contained in this article. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad was just a little more than one 
year in being built through Becker County. Grading began in the 
vicinity of the Otter Tail County line and in the Detroit Woods, 
about the middle of October, 1870, and was finished in the western 
part of the county about the middle of November, 1871. By the 
first of December, trains were making regular trips to Oak Lake 
Cut, which were continued through the winter, but only two trains 
were run through to ]\Ioorehead that fall, as the road was blockaded 
with snow until the middle of the next April, although a large crew 
of men shoveled snow all winter at an expense of $30,000. 

General Rosser was chief engineer of this part of the railroad. 
An engineer by the name of Keith had charge of the work from 
the second crossing of the Otter Tail to Chris. Anderson's place on 
Section 8, in Audubon Township, and Reno, a relative of Major 
Reno of Custer Massacre fame, had charge from there to where 
Hawley, in Clay County, is now. In 1870 and 1871 an engineer by 
the name of McClellan, a cousin of General McClellan, surveyed 
a line from Floyd Lake, in Detroit Township to Pembina. Fred. 
Brackett had the contract of grading the road from the crossing of 
the Otter Tail River near the county line to Detroit Lake, and 
George M. C. Brackett graded the road from Detroit Lake a dis- 
tance of ten miles to the west. 

T. M. Ault had a sub-contract for grading a few miles east 
from Detroit Lake. 

An old Scotchman by the name of James INIcCoy, had a con- 
tract for grading, where the village of Lake Park now stands. 

The Soo railroad was built across Becker County in the year 
1903. 




WHITE CLOUD. 



HOLE-IN-THE-DAY. 





PAUL BEAULIEU. 



TRUMAN A. WARREN. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 239 

Chapter XVIII. 

HISTORY OF THE WHITE EARTH RESERVATION. 

I will begin the history of White Earth with a letter from Ma- 
jor J._D, Bassett, who was Indian agent for the Mississippi Band 
of Chippewas at the time of their removal to White Earth in 1868: 

WoLFBORO, N. H., August 10, 1906. 
Yours of the 27th ult. reached me a few days since, forwarded from 
Minneapolis. I have delayed answering it in order to consult with Mr. 
James Bean, who now lives in California, but was expected here, and 
who was my clerk during my incumbency of the Indian agency and could 
have given me much help in answering your letter. These answers are 
from memory, which is not as clear as they would have been if I had some 
diaries kept at that time, which I have in Minneapolis. I find that forty 
years dims my memory of events that transpired that length of time ago. 
When the treaty was made in Washington in 1867, the party that went 
with me consisted of George Bonga (interpreter), Head Chief Hole-in-the- 
day, Peter Bottineau and five or six other Chiefs and Headmen; all full- 
blooded Indians. We were there over two months before the treaty was 
made and ratified. Paul H. Beaulieu was sent by me to White Earth in 
the spring of 1868, before the removal to explore the country and meet 
me on my arrival there, which was to precede the arrival of the Indians. 
Truman Warren was employed as an interpreter and collected the Indians 
at the old agency, near Crow Wing, superintended collecting the outfit 
and accompanied them on their journey. I followed them a few days 
after and overtook them at Otter Tail Lake, where they were met by a 
delegation of Sioux Indians and were holding a friendly council. Paul 
Beaulieu met me, before I arrived at the point afterwards selected for the 
agency, and accompanied me back to the reservation, and together with 
him the agency was located, also a road to White Earth Lake, and a site 
for the sawmill selected. 

I do not recollect now of sending any one to the reservation to do 
any work except what was done by Paul Beaulieu, in exploring on the 
reservation. As soon as the site for buildings was selected and the loca- 
tion of the land to be broken was marked out, I employed Joseph Wake- 
field to break the land for an Indian farm and to break land separately, 
for such Indians as desired to occupy it. I do not recollect the exact 
date when the breaking commenced or ended, but there is no question 
about Paul Beaulieu being the first settler. He was there before the first 
colony arrived and I think his family was there also, and he was employed 
as a farmer from the time of the first arrival of Indians at White Earth 
Reservation, until I left the agency. There were Indians and half-breeds 
constantly going and coming, but the number there was constantly in 
creasing. I think, when the Indians arrived near the Reservation, Paul 



240 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

went out to meet them and piloted them to the ground. I think he met 
me at some point and came back with me before the arrival of the Indians. 
I left the Indians at Otter Tail Lake and did not see them again until their 
arrival. Truman Warren stayed with the Indians until their arrival at 
their destination. Truman was the Moses from the start, and true and 
faithful. ]\Iost of the Indians that went that year, went together with 
Warren. No band or body of them went together after that time during 
that year. Several ox teams went with the Indians, and I think the same 
teams were put to work breaking land. There were some pine logs cut as 
you suggest, and it was done by Joseph Wakefield the next winter. I 
do not recollect how many, but enough to build many houses for Indians 
and store-houses. 

My experience with the Indian Department shows to my mind the 
most incomprehensible absurdity that a civilized people ever attempted 
to impose upon an uncivilized race. To attempt to civilize a people and 
at the same time prevent them from adopting any of the arts or advan- 
tages of civilization, is to my mind absolutely absurd and ridiculous. 
Give the benefit of law and the work is done at once. Abrogate law 
amongst the white people and we would soon relapse into barbarism. 

Respectfully yours, 

J. B. B.'^SSETT. 



First Land Plowed in Becker County. 

J. W. Wakefield, now of Aitkin, Minn., who did the first 
plowing in Becker County, says: 

Aitkin, Minn., July 22, igo6. 

In the fall of 1862, I passed through Becker County with the Indian 
agent, on our way to Clearwater, where he made payment to the Otter 
Tail, Pembina and Red Lake Indians. We followed the old Red River 
Trail, and camped at Detroit Lake on our way out. Edwin Clark was 
the agent at that time. It was a wild trip. The Sioux were all over the 
country, and were very hostile; it being soon after the beginning of the 
terrible massacre in southern Minnesota. The Otter Tail Indians escorted 
us through to the Clearwater. I broke 240 acres of land for the Indians 
at White Earth, in the summer of 1868, and the winter following cut one 
million feet of pine logs to be sawed into lumber and to be used in the con- 
struction of the agency buildings. 

I started my teams from old Crow Wing in the latter part <>f .Kpril. 
1868, and Paul H Beaulieu was the leader of the party, because he knew 
better how to manage the fording of the rivers, but William Thompson 
took charge of the work. Paul was employed by the government as 
farmer and surveyor. After locating my teams at breaking, he returned 
to accompany Major Bassett. I commenced breaking about the middle 
of May, with two six-ox teams and four two-horse teams. I think Paul 
Beaulieu's first trip to White Earth was when he went with my teams, 
arriving there early in May, 1868. James Warren and George Van Valken- 



A PioNiiiiR History ui* I>ecke;r County. 241 

burg came to White Earth later on. I opened up a store there, as I was 
the only licensed trader in the country at the time. Robert Fairbanks 
was my clerk. E. B. Lowell took charge of my logging camp that next 
winter. I think our making the trip through that country in the fall of 
1862, was the cause of White Earth being chosen for a reservation, for 
we all recommended it to the government as the Garden of Eden, and 
we were not much mistaken. 

I have been trying to refresh my memory as to the names of those 
of my party who went to White Earth to do the breaking of land. There 
were, besides Beaulieu, four men and one woman. The woman was Wm. 
Thompson's wife, a white woman, and the entire party were white men, but 
for my life I cannot remember their names, except Wm. Thompson and 
Simeon Weaver. As to Paul H. Beaulieu, he went back to Crow Wing and 
brought his family back, and so did Robert Fairbanks. The following 
winter I cut one million feet of logs to build the Agency. Again Paul 
Beaulieu returned to Crow Wing and piloted my teams and crew through. 
They left Crow Wing the early part of January, i86g. This party was, P. H. 
Beaulieu, E. B. Lowell, John B. Wakefield and True Moores. Somewhere 
in the vicinity of Detroit, they experienced a snow storm. So much snow 
fell with the heavy wind, the men got discouraged and all agreed to turn 
back, when True Moores with a four-horse team hitched up and said he was 
going to White Earth, as he had hired out to do and started out alone. 
Paul Beaulieu soon followed and after some time they all pulled out, and 
with much difficulty, with snow and cold, made their way by following the 
ridges and high land, for the valleys were ten to twenty feet deep with 
snow. It was quite an undertaking to haul our supplies so far without 
roads or bridges. I got $13.00 per acre for breaking and $10.00 per one 
thousand feet banking logs and it was not too much either. 

Yours respectfully. 
To A. H. Wilcox Joseph B. Wakefield. 

The William Thompson referred to took a claim the next year two 
or three miles south of where Frazee now stands and lived there 
for several years. The place is now owned and occupied by Thomas 
Keyes. His wife referred to afterwards became the wife of C. H. 
Whipple and lived in Detroit for several years and died there on the 
13th day of March, 1888. 



First Saw Mill at White Earth. 

Long Pr.mrie. Minnesota. July 10. 1906. 
Hon. a. H. Wilcox. 
Frazee, Minn., 
Dear Sir: 

I have your favor of the 2nd inst., asking about my trip to White Earth 
in the spring of 1868, and in reply will say I went there at that time to 
build a saw mill for the Indians, under contract with Major J. B. Bassett, 
then Indian agent. 



242 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

We loaded the engine, boiler and mill machinery into a flatboat at 
the old village of Crow Wing and poled the boat up the Crow Wing River 
to the mouth of Leaf River and up that river to Leaf Lake. The party 

was made up of the late Wm. L. Dow, Little Falls, Minn., Mr. Mc- 

Cabe, of Minneapolis, Minn., Mr. Jerry Bartrum and a brother of his, whose 
name I have forgotten, and myself, with about half a dozen Indians who 
helped pole the boat. 

We found the water very low that spring and in many places were 
obliged to build wing dams to raise the water sufficiently to enable 
us to get up over the rapids; when we got into Leaf River we found it 
so crooked that our boat, which was seventy feet long, could scarcely 
make the turns and we were greatly delayed and did not reach Rufifee's 
Landing on Leaf Lake as soon as we expected; we ran short of provisions 
and the last few days lived on fish which we caught in the river. We left 
the boat at Rufifee's Landing, and the cargo was afterwards loaded onto 
wagons and hauled through to White Earth Lake. After leaving our boat, 
we went to Otter Tail Lake where Charley Peake had a trading store, only 
to find he had nothing to eat except fish and potatoes, and for four days, 
while we were waiting for the teams which started from the Crow Wing 
Agency the day after we did and which were greatly delayed by bad roads, 
we shared his generous hospitality and scant bill of fare. At Otter Tail 
Lake was also located Mr. Van Norse, to whom we were indebted for many 
courtesies. 

When we reached Buffalo River we were obliged to bridge that stream 
before we could get our teams across, and while there Major Bassett over- 
took us and went ahead to White Earth and sent back Mr. Paul Beaulieu 
to pilot us in to our destination. 

Upon our arrival we immediately commenced work on the saw-mill, 
and soon had it running. It was located about two miles east of the present 
village on the bank of White Earth Lake. 

Thompson & Peake had banked a lot of pine logs across the lake the 
winter before, and from these we sawed quite a lot of lumber and shingles 
and then left the mill in charge of Anton St. Germain, who ran it for 
some time. 

The following winter I built a saw-mill at Red Lake for the Indians 
of that agency; the mill was located at the outlet of the lake and was run 
by water power. 

The firm of Thompson & Peake, who did the lumbering at White Earth 
the winter before I went there, was composed of Mr. William Thompson, 
whom you mention, and Fred Peake. Giles Peake and Charley Peake 
were at Otter Tail at the time. 

There were no Indians with Major Bassett, they came later and arrived 
while I was there during the early summer. Paul Beaulieu was at White 
Earth ahead of us and before Major Bassett went there, he must have gone 
there very early in the spring. 

Truman Warren was at the old Crow Wing Agency at the time and 
did not reach White Earth until the middle of June. It is difficult for me 
to give the exact date when my party left Crow Wing m the spring, but 
my best recollection is that it was about the middle of May. 



A PiONEKR History of Backer County. 



243 



I regret that I am unable to go more into detail or be more definite 
as to dates, but the fact is I am now eighty-four years old and my memory 
is not as good as it was some years ago. I came to Minnesota in 1856 and 
settled at Little Falls, have lived in this part of the state ever since, and 
am interested in the history of the state and am pleased to contribute any- 
thing I can, to make the history that I have had anything to do with making 
a matter of record. 

Yours truly, 

Samuel Lee. 

Mr. Lee is the father of Hon. Wm. E. Lee, of Long Prairie. 
Mr. Samuel Lee died at Long Prairie October 22nd, 1906. 



Nathan Butler. 




XAl'HAX I'.V 11, ER. 



Nathan Butler, an old U. S. government surveyor, who was 
with the first party of Indians when they went through to White 
Earth in the month of June 1868, says: 

It was in June 1868 that I first went into Becker County. It was the 
time Major Bassett moved the Indians to White Earth Reservation. I 
joined him near Otter Tail Lake and went to White Earth with him. 



244 -■^ PioxKEK History of LiiiCKKK Countv. 

Paul Beaulieu was living at White Earth with his family when Major 
Bassett and I arrived there. He met us two or three miles this side of 
the agency. He was hunting along the road, and had killed a lynx and 
some other game. He returned to the agency with us, and we took 
dinner with him, which his wife had prepared, apparently in anticipation 
of our arrival. I recollect very distinctly that she had bear meat and a 
turtle cooked. I noticed that Bassett ate pretty freely of the bear meat, 
but not of the turtle. When we were out after dinner, inspecting the 
breaking that Jos. Wakefield was doing for the government, Bassett re- 
marked, that he did not think his wife would put a turtle on the table 
more than once with the feet on it. That accounted for his eating bear 
instead of turtle. I ate the turtle and preferred it to the bear meat. 

We were there nearly a week on account of one of the mules being 
lame, and while we were there I recollect Bassett talking with Lee about 
putting up a saw mill by contract, but could not make any bargain to do it. 

When we got back to the outlet of Rush Lake the heaviest of the 
saw mill machinery was there loaded on wagons waiting for Bassett. We 
gave them information about the road, and gave them three weeks to get 
to White Earth Lake. In seven days they had the mill there ready to 
set up; the best job of handling ox teams I ever saw. 

In a letter to W. W. McLeod, Mr. Btitler says : 

On our return I met three or four men from Clitheral, Otter Tail 
County, looking for good land on which to locate and I pursuaded them 
to go through the Detroit Woods to the vicinity of Oak Lake. They 
were delighted with the land in that vicinity and made claims there to 
which they afterwards moved their families. One of them, Henry Way, 
was living in the vicinity the last I heard of him. These, at the time were 
supposed to be the first white men who ever settled in Becker County. 
Patrick Quinlan was living on the river bank just south of where Frazee 
is now, but he thought he was living in Otter Tail County until after the 
county line was run two years afterwards. 

In 1874 I was employed by the U. S. Commissoner of Indian Affairs 
to locate and survey a wagon road from Detroit to the Red Lake Agency. 

As there was a good road already located to White Earth Agency and 
from there to the Wild Rice River, I adopted the old road that far, and 
the road from there north did not vary two miles at any one point from 
a straight line. 

In July, 187 1, I went to Oak Lake, then the end of the railroad, and 
outfitted three parties to examine land for the Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company, and in the fall of that year took a party into the woods east of 
Richwood and examined the towns of Grand Park and Carsonville. 

N. B. 

To W. W. McLeod. 

Mr. lUitler is now living- at Minneapolis, bnt was back here in 
Jnly 1906, at the age of 74 years, making a survey of some land in 
the woods a few miles south of Frazee, about as nimble as ever. 






MRS. TULIA A. SPEARS. 



JULIUS BROWN. 




REV. JOHN JOHNSOX. 



MRS. JOHN JOHNSON. 



246 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



History of White Earth, 

By Mrs. Julia A. Si'Ears. 

In 1867 my home was at the old Chippewa Agency near Crow 
^^'ing•, Minnesota. A widow, with three children, I was employed 
as government day teacher, and rememher very well the events 
which occurred at that time. J. B. Bassett was Indian agent, and 
the same year went to ^^'ashing■ton with the head chief Hole-in- 
the-day, and other chiefs of the Mississippi band of Chippewas, to 
make a treaty with the government in the exchange of their old 
reservation for a new- one which was to be selected for them in 
northern Minnesota. It was a year after the treaty, before all the 
Indians could be pursuaded to leave their old home, and when at 
last they were willing and ready to move, Hole-in-the-day became 
dissatisfied and unruly. He demanded much for himself as head 
chief which was refused by the government. He then began to 
oppose the removal and made much trouble by trying to prevent 
the other chiefs and braves from starting, telling them to wait until 
next spring" as he would not be ready until then ; that he was going 
to Washington again to demand of the government that improve- 
ments be made at the new reservation before removal, including 
a saw-mill, houses for the Indians, and a large house for himself 
like the one that was destroyed by fire during the Indian raid in 
1862. He told them that when all these improvements were made 
he would be ready to go, and they and the Agency would all move 
together. He urged them to wait, but they would not listen to him 
and were determined to go. The agent had received orders from 
the department to have the Indians removed to their new home 
early that spring, and they were all ready to start. Hole-in-the-day 
was very angry when he found that he could not prevent them from 
moving, and threatened to kill the first to go. Some of his braves 
supported him in his stand. Finally, after much trouble, they were 
ready to start on the 4th day of June, 1868. 

T. A. Warren was appointed by the government to superintend 
the transfer of the Indians to their new reservation at White Earth. 
He collected together men, women and children, about two hundred 
in all. at the old agency. I saw them when they started, with a long- 
train of ox teams, Mr. Warren in a light buggy with his wife and 
child. My friend, Reverend Fred Smith, now rector of Saint Colum- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 247 

bia church at White Earth, accompanied them. He was then a very 
young man. He has given me some information of the first two 
years of the settlement at White Earth, including the following nar- 
rative of the removal written by himself : 

In the morning of June 4, 1868, Truman Warreji started with the 
Indians for their new home, White Earth, with eleven ox teams, moving 
the Mississippi band of Chippewas, under the chiefs White Cloud, Wah- 
bon-ah-quod, Nay-bon-ash-kung and Mun-ne-do-wab. It was a trying 
time. Hole-in-the-day had told his braves that whoever went first would 
surely be killed on the spot. Nay-bon-ash-kung, who was a brave as well 
as a chief, took his gun and told the party to follow him, saying: "Now, 
follow me; whoever will come in my way to stop me from going, he will 
be killed on the spot." All the Indians went along with him, having their 
guns ready for business, and nobody dared to come in his way. T. A. 
Warren was their leader, having charge of the removal. In coming through 
to Otter Tail Lake we saw few houses, but after leaving the lake we saw 
none. It was a vast wilderness. The Indians arrived at White Earth at 
noon, June 14, 1868. We camped near the present site of the agency 
buildings, and lived in tents and wigwams until houses were built. Eew 
were ready by cold weather, and some of the Indians built little log huts 
for their first winter. T. A. Warren had charge of the Indians after they 
reached their new home. He built a log store house for the flour, pork, 
groceries and other supplies, and distributed weekly rations to the Indians 
for one year. 

Air. Paul Beaulieu, at the request of the Indians, was their first 
farmer. He came from Crow Wing with his family and four wdiite 
men and they arrived a short time in advance of the Indians and 
settled at a place four miles from A\'hite Earth Lake, now known 
as the "Old Trading Post." This was their first village here. 

James W^arren, government saw^yer and carpenter, and George 
Van A'alkenberg, government l)lacksmith, came with Paul Beaulieu 
on one of his trips. 

Samuel Lee and a party of men left Crow AA'ing about the mid- 
dle of Alay with the machinery for a sawmill wdiich he afterwards 
built at AA'hite Earth Lake and he had hard time getting through 
with the mill. The government farm was located, farmhouse and 
stables built, as also a dwelling house for T. A. Warren and several 
small houses for the Indians — all log buildings. There were no 
gardens the first year, as they arrived too late in the season, but 
there was plenty of wild rice in the lakes, and ducks, geese and prai- 
rie chickens were also plentiful. The lakes were filled with many 
varieties of fish, including catfish, pickerel, muskallonge, black and 
rock bass, suckers, red-horse and wall-eyed pike. Sturgeon were 



248 A I'loxKKR History of Bkckkr County. 

also cauL;ht in W hite F'artli Lake. The first two years deer were 
quite plentiful, and also elk, moose, bear, muskrats and rabbits. 
Nay-bon-ash-kung', one of the chiefs, who died in 1873, killed the 
first elk. The Indians did not hunt much the first year, those who 
were able to work being- hired by the government to help build their 
own houses. In the fall of the same year (1868) Rev. Mr. John 
Johnson (En-meg-ah-bowh) sent word he was coming to \\niite 
Earth with his family, bringing with him a few Indians from IMille 
Lacs. He requested a party of Indians to meet him at Otter Tail 
Lake as it was not safe for a small party to travel alone through the 
wilderness, the Sioux being feared at that time. That winter a 
little log church was built. Rev. Johnson was sent by Bishop Whip- 
p\e to convert and civilize the Indians, in which work he was very 
successful. He \\as an eloquent preacher and very popular with the 
Indians. In September, 1868, Julius Brown, ( Alamuckkawange) 
the first male child, was born. Jane Parker, daughter of Bahbewob 
(Peter Parker), was the first girl born. 

The first death occurred September i, 1868, Gin-gion-cumig-oke, 
mother-in-law of T. A. Warren. x\h-zhe-day-gi-shig and wife were 
the first couple married, on January 12, 1869, in Saint Columbia 
church, where they were also baptized. 

In the fall of 186B, the Indians were paid their first amuiity 
money, ten dollars per head, at White Earth. 

R. P. Fairbanks, who was a big boy ar this time, says he remem- 
bers well that Joseph Wakefield came here before the Indians ar- 
rived and built a small store at the old trading post. The name of 
the members of the firm were Joseph Wakefield and Fred Peake. 
His father, Robert Fairbanks ran the store for them. This was the 
first store at White Earth in recent years. 

The 14th day of June of each year has always been observed by 
the people and Indians as the anniversary of the day when the first 
Indians arrived at White Earth. They named their new home Gah- 
wah-bah-bi-gon-i-kah, or White Earth, from the white clay found 
under the black soil. 

On April i, 1869, Mr. Bassett resigned his office as Indian Agent, 
and an army officer was then appointed by the government to fill 
the vacancy, during whose term two annuity payments were made 
to the Indians. 

During 1869 most of the Indians that had remained at the old 
agency at Crow Wing and Gull Lake moved to White Earth, as did 



A Pioneer History of Becker Cou.\ty. 249 

also a number of mixed-blood families from Crow Wing and Leech 
Lake. In that year a Roman Catholic priest. Father Tomazine, ar- 
rived and his first church was a small building built of logs and locat- 
ed about three miles south of the agency. 

On the morning of Sept. 9, 1870, I started with m_\- three children 
from Little Falls, Minnesota, in company with my sister, Mrs. James 
Warren, and family of seven children, on our journey to White 
Earth. Mr. La Chance and Mr. Mouchamp were hired with their 
tw() tw'd-hcrse teams and one ox team. We went to Crow W ing 
and to()k the Leech Lake road as far as Twenty-four-mile Creek, so 
named from being 24 miles from I^eech Lake, where a road had just 
been completed by the government across the country to White 
Earth. Here we met an Indian with an ox team who had been sent 
by my brother, Truman, to guide us to White Earth. Mr. La 
Chance went back to Little Falls, while Mr. Mouchamp continued 
with us. We traveled very slowly as the teams were heavily loaded. 
It was a desolate country, but wa saw large numbers of ducks, geese, 
prairie chickens and partridges. My sister and I walked nearly the 
entire distance. When we reached Pine Point we met Rev. Johnson 
with his family, on their way to visit Bishop Whipple, and taking his 
two daughters to Saint Mary's Hall, Faribault, where they were 
to attend school. W'e camped together that night and had a pleas- 
ant visit with them. Mr. Johnson informed us that the roads were 
in a very bad condition and that we were yet one and a half day's 
journey from White Earth, which proved true. Ten days after 
leaving Little Falls we arrived at our new home, where we were 
warmly welcomed by relatives antl friends. We were much pleased 
with the country, the fruitful gardens and the tall oak trees which 
were so green and beautiful, there having been no frost. I was 
much surprised to see the great improvement in my Indian friends 
whom I had known at the "Old Agency" and who had come with 
the first removal. When they left there they were heathens and wore 
blankets, long hair, feathers, and painted their faces, and now when 
they came to shake hands and welcome me they were dressed like 
white men, wdth short hair and unpainted faces. This was the result of 
the good work of their missionary, who had converted most of 
these Indians. They were now trying to live Christian lives and 
had taken their lands near each other. The government had houses 
built for them and they all appeared contented and happy. I never 
heard any of them express regret at having come to White Earth, 



250 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

their only complaint being; the lack of schools for their children. 
Mr. John Cook had been appointed by the government to be their 
farmer and overseer, having arrived with his family from Leech 
Lake earl\- in the spring of 1870, where he had filled a similar posi- 
tion for a nnmber of years. I was very glad to renew their ac- 
(piaintance, as I had known them at Leech Lake where we first 
met. Mrs. Cook was the first white woman who came to White 
]£arth. They had three beautiful children, two boys and one girl. 
They were good Christian people, Mr. Cook being an honest, up- 
right man, and the Indians had great respect for him. For his 
home he had selected another place near a lake two miles from the 
village, where a new farm-house and other government buildings 
were being erected. AAdien completed in the fall he moved there 
with his famil}^ and kindly offered me the house he had vacated 
for a day school and residence, which I gladly accepted. There 
were about forty children in attendance and I taught all winter. 
it being the first school on the reservation. 

In the fall of 1870 there was a new blacksmith appointed, a Mr. 
Cochran who had been there only a few weeks. Early one morning 
he went out in a boat to shoot ducks, and in reaching over the side 
of the boat to pick up a duck, which he had killed, the boat upset and 
before assistance could reach him he was drowned. His body was 
not recovered until the following spring. He was the first white 
man Ijuried at AMiite Earth. 

The removals, including ourselves, were: Alfred Warren and 
familw Madeline Warren, Tyler Warren and Mrs. Delia Winters. 
These were all the children of W. AV. W^arren the historian. They 
have since all passed away except Madeline, who is now Airs. 
George ITran. There were also Mr. Tim. Moore and wife and 
mother-in-law, Mrs. Fountain, Mr. Frank M. Campbell, wife and 
four children, Mr. Robert Fairbanks, wife, four sons and one daugh- 
ter, and Mr. Frank Roy, wife and family, all from Crow \¥ing. 
Besides these there were two traders, George Fairbanks and Wm. 
McArthur, the last named coming several years later. I remember 
the Indians secured quantities of furs in the fall and early spring, 
such as bear, timber wolves, coyotes, red fox, mink, lynx, wild-cat, 
coon, muskrat, skunk, weasel, marten, fisher, otter and badger. 
The four last mentioned animals are now very rare. 

In 1870 Mr. Bardwell was appointed Indian agent, with head- 
quarters at Leech Lake, and held the office for one y^ar, another 



A PioNEKR History of Beckisr County. 251 

annuity being paid during his term. In that year Bishop Whipple 
came to visit the Indians. He held services and confirmed a large 
number of Indians in the little log church, on this his first visit to 
White Earth. All the Indians loved and respected their good Bish- 
op and he was their best friend. With his influence with the De- 
partment at Washington he did much to help them when in trouble 
and want during the grasshopper plague. 

In the spring of 1871 E. P. Smith was appointed Indian agent 
with headquarters at White Earth, bringing his own employes, 
most of them coming from Ripon, Wisconsin. This being the first 
agency at White Earth, their names are here given: Mr. Chittenden, 
tnimarried, head clerk and overseer ; Mrs. Minnie Cook, niece of E. 
P. Smith, assistant clerk ; Mr. M. V. Nichols, farmer ; Mr Bardwell, 
blacksmith ; Mr. A. K. Murray, engineer in charge of the govern- 
ment sawmill at White Earth Lake ; Mr. J. E. Haven, carpenter ; Dr. 
Bodle, physician. All had families. Dr. Bodle and Mr. Haven 
were employed for a number of years at White Earth. Several 
government houses for employees were built, including the Indian 
boarding school, the only school building ready for use that fall. 
The first superintendent and teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Armour, 
from Iowa. There was room for only fifty pupils, and twenty-five 
boys and as many girls were taken, none under fifteen years of age. 
The pupils were taught to do all the work in the boarding school. 

Eastern churchmen assisted the Episcopal mission and a new 
church and parsonage were built. The new church was consecrated 
l)y Bishoji \\'hipple in August. 1872, when he visited WHiite Earth 
accompanied by quite a party of the clergy and laity. 

In the spring of 1871, John Cook and family moved from W^hite 
Earth to their new home and farm near Audubon, where all the 
members of this unfortunate family were cruelly murdered a year 
afterwards by three Chippewa Indians, Bobolink and Boanece being 
the principal actors in the tragedy. They were both arrested soon 
after the crime and taken to prison, but Boanece was released for 
want of evidence. He was quite ill when he returned home, but 
recovered partially and was able to walk about, always with a loaded 
gun as if he expected to be retaken. In February, 1873, Mr. James 
Whitehead came to White Earth to arrest him again. The Indians 
became very much excited and quickly held a council and all agreed 
to stop the arrest. They were determined not to allow Mr. White- 
head to take Boanece from the reservation, although knowing him 



252 A Pioneer History oe IIkcker Couxtv. 

to be guilty. Tlie fear of an Indian ()utl)reak was tlieir reason for 
resisting the arrest. The Leech Lake Pillagers had several times 
sent word to the White Earth hidians that if they permitted him to 
be taken off the reservation to prison again, where he would be hung 
by the whites, there would be trouble and they would C(.mmence kill- 
ing the white ])eo])le. P)oanece and his wife were related to S(Mne of 
the worst Indians at Bear Lsland, Leech Lake. This was the last 
attempt made to arrest him, and he died soon after at his home on 
Rice River. The west half of White Earth Reservation was sur- 
veyed by George P. Stuntz and Shaw of Duluth and St. Paul, in 
the summer of 1871. During the year 1873 all the government 
buildings were completed, including the large school-house and 
boys' building, also the industrial hall where the Lidian women 
were taught house-work, including cooking, sewing, knitting, carpet- 
weaving, etc. Miss Hattie Cook, niece of E. P. Smith, the agent, 
was the matron in charge. 

In the spring of 1873 a }oung Indian woman was murdered in 
a sugar camp. She was one of two sisters who had l)een left to 
watch the camp during the night. An Indian assaulted them and 
killed the elder one with a hatchet after she had tried to defend 
herself. The younger sister escaped and reported the tragedy. The 
murderer attempted to run away, but was caught and taken to Fort 
Ripley, where he was held a prisoner for some months in the guard 
house, the only punishment he received for the crime. He is still 
living. 

One night during the same year an Indian was shot while re- 
turning home from the village and his body found by the roadside 
the next morning. He was supposed to have been murdered by a 
Leech Lake Indian to avenge the killing of a relative. 

In 1H73, Rev. J. A. Gilfillan, a young Episcopal clergman, came 
to White Earth to assist Rev. Mr. Johnson in mission work. He 
very soon learned to speak the Ojibwa language, and with his kindly 
ways, won the love and respect of the Indians, who found in him a 
sincere friend. He instructed a class of young Indian luen and 
prepared them to become clergymen and deacons for the dififerent 
churches and missions, which through his influence were erected for 
the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. In this work he was very suc- 
cessful. Most of his pupils are still living, having charge of the 
churches and missions, and are preaching the gospel to their own 
people. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 253 

E. P. Smith completed his term as agent in 1872. During the 
short time he was Indian agent he made a great many improve- 
ments at White Earth. He was a Christian man and one of the best 
agents ever on the reservation. Mr. Douglas, from [Minneapolis, 
succeeded him, and remained in office one year. 

During 1873 some of the prominent mixed-blood families and 
traders from Crow Wing, Minnesota, moved to White Earth. They 
included Mr. Clement Beaulieu, wife, four sons and one daughter ; 
Albert Fairl)anks and family ; A\'illiam Fairbanks and family ; George 
Donald and family. A son of ^ir. Scandrett, and grandson of Bish- 
op \\'hipple, was the first white child born at White Earth, in the fall 
of 1874. 

Truman A. Warren, 

Truman A. Warren was born at La Pointe, Madeline Island. 
Lake Superior, April 19th, 1827. and was the second son of Lyman 
M. Warren, the first permanent American settler on Lake Superior. 
The father was for many years connected in business with the 
American Fur Company, making his residence on Madeline Island, 
its most westerly headquarters along the chain of the Great Lakes. 
He was a direct descendant of Richard Warren, one of the Pilgrim 
Fathers of the Mayflower. Gen. Joseph Warren who fell at Bun- 
ker Hill, was also a member of a collateral branch of this same 
family. 

The mother of Truman Warren was Mary Cadotte, the daughter 
of Michel Cadotte, an old time fur trader of Lake Superior and 
the great Northwest and was himself the son of Jean Baptiste Ca- 
dotte, who was in partnership with Alexander Henry, the English- 
man, noted for his journeys and writings. The wife of Michel Ca- 
dotte, and mother of Mary Cadotte was an Ojibwa woman, daugh- 
ter of Waub-ije-Jauk (White Crane) hereditary chief of the La 
Pointe band of Ojibwas, wdiich was closely related to the bands of 
the Mississippi. Truman W^arren was the younger brother of W^ 
W. Warren, the historian of the Ojibwa nation. 

In the summer of 1836 their grandfather, Lyman Warren, Sr., 
of New York, visited La Pointe, and on his return took home the 
two boys with him to Clarkson, New York, where they attended 
school for two years. Afterwards, from 1838 to 1841, they attend- 
ed the Oneida Institute at Whitesborough. near Utica, New York. 
where they acquired a good scholastic training. 



254 ^"^ PiOxXEER History of Becker Couxtv. 

Truman remained at Clarkson until 1843, ^vhen he returned to 
La Pointe, Madeline Island. He was of a fine personal appearance, 
gentlemanly, somewhat reserved in manner, studious and practical. 
Having acquired an excellent penmanship, he very readily found 
employment in the office of James P. Hays, U. S. Indian Agent, 
and from that period he was connected with the Indian service nearly 
all his life. He became identified with the Mississippi Chippewas 
in 1 85 1, at the time when an effort was made to remove the Lake 
Superior Chippewas to Crow Wing and Gull Lake. He made his 
home at the Chippewa Agency near Crow Wing and resided there 
for years, engaged in trade and also in the government service at 
times, always on good terms and in friendship with the head chief, 
Hole-in-the-day. 

Mr. Warren took a lively interest and an active part in the re- 
moval of the Indians to the White Earth Reservation, and it can be 
truly said that it was greatly through his advice and wise counsel 
that they were at last prevailed upon to leave their old home and 
country where they had roamed and lived for generations back. 
He was one of the party who accompanied the chief, Hole-in-the- 
day, on his trip to make a selection of the lands and to locate the 
\\'hite Earth Reservation. On his return from his trip he carried 
in his own conveyance a goodly specimen of the rich black soil as 
a proof of the richness of the "promised land" ; and the Indians 
who came to see were greatly pleased. They laughed heartily 
and said it was only "Makoukes" (or Little Bear, Mr. AVarren's 
Indian name) who would take the trouble of doing this. 

After twenty years of constant employment in the Indian ser- 
vice, during which time he opened up a thriving farm, Mr. Warren 
left his home at White Earth, and commenced a new home on the 
Red Lake Reservation. Though never intended for a permanent 
residence, it was here that he met his death after a few days of severe 
illness. He died October 31st, 1888, aged sixty-one years, leaving 
a wife, two sons and two daughters. His remains were brought to 
White Earth for interment at St. Benedict Cemetery. 

The following is copied from a letter written by J. B. Bassett, 
Feb. 25th, 1905, who was United States Indian agent at the time of 
the first removal : 

Your favor of the 15th inst., received. I gladly answer your inquiries 
as well as I can, but the lapse of twenty-seven years has blotted much of 
that history from my memory. There are some of the persons with whom 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 255 

I was associated that I shall never forget, and among them is your brother, 
Truman A. Warren. A truer and nobler man I have never met. It was 
through his influence and help that I persuaded the Indians to remove to 
their present reservation. Your brother T. A. Warren had charge of col- 
lecting the Indians that first went to White Earth. 

He brought them together at the old agency, organized the outfit, had 
charge of it and accompanied them on their journey. As you truly say 
ihey had perfect confidence in him, and well they might, for he never de- 
ceived them. Your memory of the removal is quite correct. Your brother 
was my interpreter from the time that I assumed the agency until I left. 
I always found him a truthful and remarkably bright and intelligent gentle- 
man although his life spent on the frontier, where he was surrounded 
by all the temptations that lead astray and have ruined so many. He 
always maintained his manhood and purity of character while associated 
with the Indians. 

The Beaulieus were a remarkably bright family. Paul Beaulieu was 
an exceptional man, of a vivid imagination and good heart, and gifted with 
plenty of brain power. He was an orator and had mastered the English, 
French and Ojibway languages perfectly. 

Three sisters of T. A. Warren survive him, all residents of White 
Earth. The oldest is Mrs. Julia A. Spears, born September 3d, 
1832, at La Pointe, Madeline Island, Wis. She was educated at 
Clarkson, ]\Ionroe County, New York and was employed as govern- 
ment day teacher for several years in the early settlement of White 
Earth. Her family consists of two daughters and a son, Mrs. Alice 
J. Mee, ]\Irs Mary Lambert, who with their families reside at White 
Earth ; and William R. Spears who with his family lives at Red 
Lake, where he has been engaged in trade for several years. The 
next sister, Mrs. Mary English was born in 1835 at La Pointe, Wis., 
and educated at Hudson, Ohio. When eighteen years old she re- 
turned home and taught government school at Odahnah, Wis., for 
a number of 3'ears, and also at Red Clifif, Wis. She removed to 
White Earth in 1874, and was principal of the government boarding 
school there for two years. She was transferred to Red Lake as 
principal of the first government school at that place for five years. 
She was married to John English at Red Lake and taught school 
for ten years longer, when her health failed and she resigned, re- 
turning to White Earth. Mrs. Sophia W^arren, third sister, was 
born in 1837, at La Pointe, Madeline Island. She was married 
when quite young to Mr. James Warren, a white man of the same 
family name and one of the earliest settlers who came to White Earth 
as a government employe two years before his family joined him. 
He died in 1882 leaving a widow, seven sons and four daughters, 



256 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

most of whom are married and have famihes. Edward L \\ arren, 
one of the sons, resides at Cass Lake, Minnesota ; Henry Warren, an- 
other son, resides at Bena, Minn., being superintendent of the gov- 
ernment boarding school there. The rest have homes in White Earth. 
Mr. Paul Beauheu was one of the first settlers, and was gov- 
ernment farmer during the first two years of the settlement of 
White Earth Reservation. He ploughed and made the first garden 
in White Earth. During his life he was always a very prominent 
man. He died in 1897, leaving a widow, two sons and two daugh- 
ters, all married and with families: ^Mrs. A. A. Ledeboer, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Mackintosh and Truman Beaulieu having their homes at 
White Earth, and Clement Beaulieu, the younger, wdio resides at 
Red Lake. 

^Irs. Julia Spears. 



William Whipple Warren. 

William Whipple Warren, the historian of the Chippewa Nation, 
was born on Madeline Island in Lake Superior the 27th of May, 
1825. He was the father of the late Tyler Warren and Mrs. George 
L'ran, of White Earth. He was a member of the second Minnesota 
Territorial Legislature in 1857, and was then residing at Gull Lake. 
He died of consumption in May, 1853, at the age of twenty-eight 
years. 

Elliot Coues, editor of Alexander Henry's journal, has this to say 
of the Cadotte family : 

CADOTTK FAMILY. 

Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Sr., (the great grandfather of W. W. and 
Truman Warren and also of Mrs. Spears, Mrs. English and Mrs. James 
Warren,) came to Michilimackinac in Oct., 1756, with his wife, a Nipissing 
woman. This wife died in 1767. That same year he married Marie Monet 
by whom Marie Cadotte was born and baptism registered as of July 28th, 
1768. J. B. Cadotte founded a trading post on the American side of Sault 
Ste. Marie in 1760 and was found there May 19th, 1762. by Alexander 
Henry, Sr., with whom he went in partnership. He went with him in 
1775 to the Saskatchewan River and separated from him at the Cumber- 
land House to go to Fort des Prairies in October. 

J. B. Cadotte crossed the Rocky Mountains near the National Bound- 
ary, more than one hundred years ago, and the famous Cadotte's Pass, the 
oldest pass in those mountains south of the Boundary Line, was so named 
for him. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 257 

He is said to have prevented the Lake Superior Indians from joining 
Pontiac. He remained in trade and agriculture until 1796, v^^hen, on the 
J4th of Alay of that year, he gave his property to his two legitimate sons 
J. B. Cadotte, Jr., and Michel Cadotte at Sault Ste. Marie. The date 
of his death is somewhat conjectural, but was somewhere between 1803 
and 1810, at a very advanced age. 

Michel Cadotte, Sr., son of J. B. Cadotte, Sr., and grandfather of 
Truman Warren was on the south side of Lake Superior in May, 1798. 
His house was on the bay between Sand River and Bad River. His wife 
was an Indian woman, and one of his daughters married Leon St. Germain. 

Michel Cadotte, Jr., is listed as a voyageur in the Northwest Fur 
Company on the Chippewa River in 1804, and took part in the capture of 
Michilimackinac in the War of 1812. He was a brother to Mrs. Lyman 
Warren and an uncle to Truman Warren. 

Louis Cadotte. thought to be a brother of the last (?) was taken to 
London, by George Catlin as chief of a band of Indians he exhibited 
there. Louis Cadotte married an English girl and brought her to Sault 
Ste. Marie where she died. He was living there in Sept. 1853. See Wm. 
Kingston's "Western Wanderings." 



Beaulieu Family. 

Alexander Henry in his journal says : 

Oct. 2d, 1805. We set off for Pembina River with Le Sueur, Huneau 
and wife. Fire on the plains in every direction; burned our horses' feet 
passing through smouldering turf. We slept at night in Beaulieu's tent 
on Sale River. 

Elliott Cones, editor of the above work, has the following to say 
with reference to the Beaulieu family : 

Beaulieft is a very old name in these annals. A half-breed family of 
that name was found on Slave River when the Northwest Fur Company 
first reached it in or about 1778, showing prior presence of the French so 
far as this. Francois Beaulieu, one of the family born in the region, was 
one of the six voyageurs who accompanied Sir Alexander McKenzie on 
his exploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, 
in 1793, from the place where they had wintered on Peace River. He was 
baptized by Bishop Tache in 1848. He died in 1872 almost a centenarian. 
The Beaulieu of whom Henry speaks is Joseph Beaulieu, listed as a voy- 
ageur in the Northwest Fur Company on Red River in 1804. 

Bazil Beaulieu from Montreal, was a voyageur of the North- 
west Fur Company in 1804 and 1805, at Flambeau, Minn. He was 
the father of Clement H. and Paul Beaulieu of White Earth. 



258 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



PAUL H. BEAULIEU. 
Paul H. Beaulieu was born at Mackinac in 1820. He was of Frencli 
and Indian descent and took an active part in the early development of the 
territory and state of Minnesota, especially in all matters relating to the 
Chippewa Indians, and in their several treaties with the government. 
He possessed the attributes of a splendid education, was a master of the 
English and French languages, a born diplomat, a brilliant orator, and a 
Chesterfield in manner and address, and was reputed to be the most 
fluent interpreter of the Chippewa dialect that the nation ever produced. 
He was largely instrumental in bringing about the measure which secured 
to the Chippewas their present home, the White Earth Reservation, and 
he, too, led the van when they removed hither, and turned the first 
furrow and planted the first crop, and took the initiatory steps in the 
paths of a new civilization. Mr. Beaulieu never sought the uncertain 
allurements of the political world, although grandly qualified to honor 
and administer the duties of its most intricate branches; he chose, rather, 
to humiliate himself to his humble surroundings and to the elevation of 
his kindred, the Chippewas of Minnesota. He belonged to that lofty 
school of individualism that is fast passing away, and who, "along the 
cool, sequestered vale of life, they keep the 'morseless tenor of their way" 
and whose noble deeds of self-sacrifice are buried with them. ]\lr. Beaulieu 
had been in failing health for some time, and the sudden and tragic death 
of his beloved son, John H. Beaulieu, a few weeks ago, undoubtedly 
hastened his demise which occurred on the gth of February, 1897. He 
leaves a wife and two daughters and two sons, Mrs. Jennie Ledeboer, 
Mrs. A. J. Mcintosh, and Truman and C. A. H. Beaulieu. He was a 
brother of the late lamented Col. C. H. Beaulieu. and at the time of his 
death he was employed as interpreter on the Chippewa Commission. In 
respect to his memory Maj. R. M. Allen, U. S. Indian agent, ordered 
the agency flags at half mast during Wednesday and Thursday, and that 
general business about the agency be suspended during the funeral services. 
He was laid to rest on Thursday, in St. Benedict's mission cemetery; Rev. 
Father Aloysius, O. S. B., officiated at the funeral services.— D^iro/i Record. 
Mus. West. 

CLEMENT H. BEAULIEU. 
Col. Clement H. Beaulieu, Sr., or, as his friends delighted to call him, 
"Uncle Clem," was born at Lac du Flambeaux, in the then territory of 
Michigan, which included Wisconsin, Minnesota and a large portion of 
territory west of the Mississippi, on Sept. 10, 1811. A pioneer, a statesman 
and an individual of marked characteristics, being born in a period when 
the West and Northwest was, comparatively speaking, a howling wilder- 
ness and barbaric Eden of the untutored red man, his father, Bazil Hudon 
de Beaulieu, having emigrated from Canada in the year 1804. and who 
was actively engaged in the fur trade of the Northwest for many years, 
and in which business ^Ir. C. H. P.caulicu. Sr.. became early engaged in 
the Lake Superior region and other points east and west of the head- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 259 

quarters of the Mississippi, especially in the vicinity of La Pointe, Wis., 
and at Crow Wing, Minn. At the latter place at one time he owned and 
conducted the most thriving trade and enjoyed the pleasantest home in 
Minnesota, under the warm hospitality of its roof and from the bounty 
of its board no friend or stranger ever turned away hungry, nor felt 
touched by the chill of discourtesy. 

Mr. Beaulieu was of mixed French and Algic Indian blood, being 
descended on his father's side from the chivalrous de Beaulieus of France, 
and the most distinguished totem or clan of the Ojibwa nation, members 
of whose family have been chiefs and princesses from time immemorial, 
and the principles and persuasive influences of both races were happily 
continued in the life and nature of Mr. Beaulieu, and it was owing to 
the implicit faith that the Indians cherished in his word and wisdom that 
he was a power amongst them, and true it is, that many serious collisions 
have been averted between the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota and their 
white neighbors, owing to his timely councils, and today, these people 
not only can thank his aggressive forethought and wisdom for their 
heritage to homes on the White Earth Reservation, but the further sig- 
nificant t'act that no stain of the white man's blood rests on the hands of 
the Chippewas of Minnesota. 

He was married to Miss Elizabeth Farling, a daughter of one of the 
early Scotch missionaries, in 1840, celebrating midst the surroundings of 
a large family of children and grandchildren their golden wedding, some 
three years ago. 

THE SEER OF Minnesota's venerable pioneers is dead! 

Clement Hudon de Beaulieu, more familiarly known as Col. C. H. 
Beaulieu, of White Earth, this county, died on the morning of Monday, 
2d of Jan., 1893, after a short illness of some eight days. Mr. Beaulieu, 
who was a very active man for one so advanced in years, met with a 
very serious accident a few days ago, having broken his leg, and which 
culminated in his death. His wife survives him, and also five sons, Capt. 
Chas. H.. Rev. C. H., Jr., Gus. H., Theo. B., Robt. G. and one daughter, 
Mrs. Theo. H. Beaulieu. — Detroit Record. 

Mrs. West. 

Clement A. Beaulieu came to White Earth in the fall of 1873, 
and took charge of George A. Morison's trading post, but two years 
afterwards moved to the new agency and established a store of his 
own where he was in trade for several years. He took his land on 
Fish Lake in Norman County, but always had a renter there work- 
ing his farm, while he and his family resided at the agency in Becker 
County until the time of his death in 1893. Mr. Beaulieu was a 
prominent man here, and had great influence with the Indians and 
chiefs. He took an active part in the treaty made in 1889. He was 
a close friend of Hon. H. M. Rice. 

Mrs. Julia A. Spears. 



26o A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Among Mrs. West's papers I came across the following clipping 
from the Detroit Record of January 27th, 1893: 

Mr. Bazil H. Beaulieu, an old and respected pioneer of Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, has been commissioned by the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs a judge of the court of Indian offenses at this agency. Mr. Beaulieu 
was tendered his commission and officially notified of his appointment 
by Agent C. A. Rufifee on Monday. He is the proud possessor of a 
document sear and yellow with age, it being one of the three justice 
of peace commissions issued by the first territorial governor of Wisconsin, 
Mr. Beaulieu being one of the three persons appointed to execute the 
duties of that then honorable position, his field being Brown County, 
in 1836. 

As the name. Bazil H. Beaulieu, was identical with that of the 
Bazil H. Beaulieu who came from Montreal in 1804, and believing 
that in 1836 he would be too young a man for the Bazil H. Beaulieu 
of 1804, I wrote to Theodore H. Beaulieu of White Earth for infor- 
mation, and received the following reply : 

White Earth, Minn.. Oct. 22,, 1905. 
Hon. a. H. Wilcox, 

Frazee, Minn., 
My Dear Sir: 

Replying to yours of the i6th inst., concerning the identity of Bazil H 
Beaulieu, who came from Montreal, Canada, and settled at Lac du Flam- 
beau, Wis., the then territory of Michigan, in 1804, etc., you are respect- 
fully informed that this person was my father's uncle and a granduncle 
of mine. There were two brothers, Paul and Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu 
Paul was my father's father and my grandfather; Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu 
was the father of the late Col. Clement H., Paul H., Henry H. Beaulieu and 
was also the father of Mrs. Catherine Beaulieu Fairbanks (Mrs Robert 
Fairbanks), Mrs. Margaret Beaulieu Bisson (Mrs. Martin Bisson), Mrs 
Oustave Borup, deceased, and Mrs. Julia Beaulieu Oakes; the latter being 
the only surviving child of the said Bazil Hudon de Beaulieu. She i. at 
present at this agency and is now 94 years of age, and still hale and hearty 
My fatlier, the late Bazil H. Beaulieu, the second, was the onlv son of 
Paul Hudon de Beaulieu, and is the person referred to' in the Record 
clipping. My grand uncle Bazil was stationed at Lac du Flambeau as 
an Indian trader, and my grandfather Paul was at Vermillion Lake and 
also Red Cedar (now Cass Lake), some time between 1830 or 1840 (I am 
not clear as to date.) My grandfather removed to Navareno (now Green 
Bay Wis.), and settled there. Later on he purchased large tracts of land, 
as also the old Stockbridge agency sawmill and grist-mill from the Govern- 
ment on the south side of the Fox River and where is now built the flour- 
ishing city of Kaukauna, Wis. Sometime about 1848 my father also re- 
moved to Green Bay, and on the death of my grandfather he fell heir to 
all of the property, he being the only child. Our family removed from 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 261 

Kaukauna, Wis., about 26 years ago and settled at White Earth, Minn. 
Both my grandfather and grandmother are buried at the old French or 
mission cemetery at Green Bay, Wis. My mother and father sleep in 
St. Benedict's mission cemetery. White Earth, Minn. 

Appreciating the interest you manifest in the history of the sturdy 
pioneers, who braved the wild and woolly days of yore, and helped to 
carve the crude paths of this grand commonwealth, I have the honor, dear 
sir, to remain, 

Very respectfully, 

Theo. H. Beaulieu. 



Outpost at White Earth. 

Alexander Henry in his journal says: 

Sept. 20th, 1802. 
I sent Michel Langlois with a clerk and five Indians to build at Red 
Lake. This is an overland post, and required horses to transport the 
property. W^e have enough for all purposes, and a new sort of cart 
which facilitates transportation. They are about four feet high and per- 
fectly straight; the spokes are perpendicular, without the least bending out- 
ward, and only four to each wheel. 

Oct. 15th, 1802. 
Duford followed Langlois to Red Lake River, high water over the 
plains prevented their reaching Red Lake and they built at White Earth. 



Rev. John Johnson or Enmegahbowh. 

In 185 1, the Rev. Dr. Breck, a great missionary, whose name must 
be known to every reader of the Soldier, began a mission at Leech 
Lake, among the Ojibwa Indians of Minnesota. This mission, from 
various circumstances, had only a partial success, and in the winter of 
1855-56 troubles with the government agents roused the Indians to such 
madness that Dr. Breck was forced to leave, and the mission buildings 
were burned. 

Two years later the Rev. Mr. Peake went to Crow Wing to establish 
another mission, and a young Indian deacon. John Johnson, his Indian 
name Enmegahbowh, came to assist him. This man had been a catechumen 
under Dr. Breck, and had been baptized by him. He must have been 
born to some position in his tribe, as he had been set apart for a "Medicine 
Man" in youth, and his Indian name, EiiiiicgahbozvJi, meant "The man who 
stands by his people," a significant name, which in time proved to be a 
true one. 

In 1861 Mr. Peake resigned the mission into the hands of Enmegah- 
bowh. Crow Wing was then a settlement of very bad repute on the 



262 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

frontier. Tn 1.S62. the year of the Sioux outljreak. Hole-in-the-day. a lead- 
ing Ojibwa chief, a bad man, full of craft and cunning, collected five hun- 
dred warriors, and prepared for a general massacre of the white people. 
Enmegahbowh, having prevented, by his influence, some other bands 
from joining these, was made a prisoner, but succeeded in escaping, and, 
through the midst of great perils, made his way to Fort Ripley, and by 
his timely information, such measures were taken that bloodshed and a 
more fearful massacre than that of the Sioux were prevented. 

For a few years the mission work seemed at a stand still. From 
Canada Enmegahbowh received earnest invitations to go where comfort 
and hopeful work awaited him, but Bishop Whipple encouraged him, 
standing in the forefront for an unpopular cause and a hated people, and 
Enmegahbowh would prove the fitness of his name — he would not desert 
his people. 

At last the government made new arrangements, and seven hundred 
Ojibwas were moved to what is called the White Earth Reservation, a tract 
thirty-six miles square in northern Minnesota. Of these seven hundred 
about one hundred and fifty were French half-breeds, or Roman Catholics. 
Amongst the remainder Enmegahbowh labored earnestly, the government 
now aiding in the work by encouraging the Indians in civilized ways. A 
steam sawmill was built at White Earth Lake, where Indians were taught 
to run the machinery, and from which lumber was furnished for building 
purposes. Eastern churchmen assisted the mission, and a church and par- 
sonage were built. 

At the time of the consecration of the church in August, 1872. quite 
a party of the clergy and laity, through the kindness of Bishop Whipple, 
were enabled to visit White Earth. 

The consecration was on Thursday. Friday morning, the chiefs sig- 
nified to the bishop their wish to meet him in a council, which was there- 
fore held, that afternoon, on the hillside in front of the church. It was a 
picturesque scene — the lovely landscape, the sunlight glancing through the 
tall oak trees on the bishop and Enmegahbowh, who sat in the centre, 
the chiefs and five or six clergymen grouped around. Behind the bishop 
three chairs were placed for the ladies of the party — the first time, I think, 
that ladies were ever admitted to an Indian council. 

The chiefs spoke in turn, as they had themselves arranged, and were 
interpreted by Enmegahbowh. — Christian Soldier. 

Mks. Spears. 

The Rev. John Johnson was born in Canada and died at White 
Karth on the 12th of June. 1902, at the ag-e of 95 years. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 263 



Peter Parker. 

Peter Parker, the present janitor of the industrial school at Pine 
Point, a full-blooded Indian and a soldier of the Civil War, says : 

I drove one of the ox teams that hauled the baggage belonging to 
the Indians who comprised the party that arrived at White Earth on the 
14th of June, 1868, under the leadership of Truman Warren. 

Paul Beaulieu had gone on ahead in charge of another party; gov- 
ernment employes who went to open a farm for the Indians and do some 
plowing. 

We first saw Paul Beaulieu at White Earth; there is where his party 
and ours first met. 

James Warren and George Van Valkenberg came in July. 

Fred Peake was the first storekeeper at White Earth (he and Joe 
Wakefield were partners), Robert Fairbanks worked or run the store 
for him. Peake was a white man. George Fairbanks started a store a 
little later on and John Beaulieu worked for him. Robert Fairbanks 
started his own store a little later. 

The building where James Whitehead undertook to arrest Boanece at 
White Earth in Feb., 1S73, was the Gains Johnson building. 

My daughter was the first white girl born at White Earth. 

Petkr Parker. 

Fred Peake and his brother Giles built the store in Detroit now 
owned and occupied by Tver Grimsgard, in the spring of 1872. 



First Catholic Priest at White Earth. 

Father Genin, the Catholic priest who brought in Sitting Bull 
from Canada, was the first priest that made regular trips t(^ this 
reservation, but Father Tomazine was the first priest who located 
here, and I might say, started the first mission. 

Gus. H. Beaulieu. 



The Fairbanks Family. 

Robert Fairbanks was born at Sandy Lake, Minn., on the 21st 
day of September 1825. When he was quite young he was sent to 
Fredonia, New York, to be educated, and at the age of twenty he was 
employed at the headquarters of the American Fur Company at La 



264 A Pioneer History of Becker Countv. 

Pointe, Wisconsin, as clerk. In 1846 he married Catherine Beaulieu 
the youngest sister of C. H. and Paul Beaulieu. He remained at 
La Pointe until 185 1, when he removed to Crow Wing with his fam- 
ily where he remained in trade for a number of years, where he had 
a comfortable home and family of seven children, four sons and 
three daughters. 

In 1868 he removed to White Earth with his family, where he 
had taken charge of the store belonging to Joseph Wakefield, which 
he ran for a year, when he opened up a store of his own which he 
ran until he died. Benjamin Fairbanks and George A. Fairbanks 
were sons of George Fairbanks, Sr., a brother of Robert Fairbanks, 
who was born at Sandy Lake, ^Nlinn., on the 26th day of August, 1827. 
He was for many years a prominent trader at Leech Lake, Crow 
Wing, and White Earth, where he moved his family in 1878, being 
one of the first traders at that place. 

George A. Fairbanks, Jr., was born at Crow Wing on the loth day 
of August, 1851, and went with his parents to White Earth in 1868, 
and succeeded his father in trade, in which he remained until his 
death on the 19th of November, 1891. 

Ben. Fairbanks was born at Crow Wing, Nov. 4th, 1853. 

jMrs. Julia A. Spears. 



Frank M. Campbell. 

Frank M. Campbell, of White Earth, was born in Green County, 
111., on the 27th day of January, 1832, and came to Crow W^ing, 
i\Iinn., in 1855. He came to White Earth in Sept., 1868, and has 
lived there ever since. He says he thinks he is about the only white 
man who has lived in Northern Minnesota 50 years without drinking 
any intoxicating liquor. 

He is the father of George M. and William F. Campbell, of 
White Earth. 

The former was born at Crow Wing June 29th, 1859, and Wil- 
liam was born at the same place on the 12th of March 1865. 

Mr. Frank Campbell took the census of all of Becker County in 
1870. 

Mr. Campbell died January 29th, 1907. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 265 



Building on the Reservation. 

Nearly all the public buidings constructed on the reservation 
from 1 87 1 till 1878, were built under the supervision of Charles P. 
Wilcox, whose home was then at Detroit, but who now lives in Pasa- 
dena, California. He says : 

I went to White Earth in the spring of 1871. The agent at that 
time was E. P. Smith, and had been there but a few months. 

My first work on the reservation was to superintend the construction 
of a church and parsonage for the Episcopal Church as ordered by Bishop 
Whipple, and the same year I also built a schoolhouse for the government. 
Then followed the rebuilding and enlarging of the sawmill at White 
Earth Lake in 1872, and the building of a large barn, and boarding-house 
for the schools. An industrial hall for the government, and a hospital 
for Bishop W^hipple followed, and a flour mill at White Earth Lake. 
Next was a dam and sawmill at the Wild Rice River about 18 miles 
north of the agency, then a large school building near the agency, and 
a church building at Wild Rice. The latter by order of Bishop Whipple. 
My last work was the construction of a water power grist-mill on White 
Earth River, about five or six miles north of the agency. This was about 
the year 1877. 



266 



A I'lONKEK IllSToK^' ol" lilXKI'.R CoL'XTV. 





ALLAN MORRISON. 



GEORGE A. MORISOX. 



Allan Morrison, Sr. 

Allan Morrison, a younger brother of William Morrison, was 
born at Teerebonne, near Montreal, Canada, June 3d, 1803, and re- 
ceived a common school education in his native village, which 
prepared him for a clerkship in a country store. 

Being a lad of uncommon physical development and activity, he 
did not take kindly to indoor life, and his brother William having 
made his first return visit to Canada in 1820, he was easily induced 
to accompany him to what the French Canadians called "Lcs pays 
d'cn Hant" or The Upper Countries. 

The delays incidental to the settlement of their father's estate 
prevented them from starting with the returning boats and canoes, 
and they were compelled to start much later ; so late in fact, that win- 
ter overtook them before the journey to the far north was half over. 

After staying some days at one of the trading posts, to give 
time for the ice to thicken, they started on afoot and it was not long 
before they had to use snow shoes, traveling being made so much 
easier with them after the snow got to be six or eight inches deep. 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 267 

Their route from Montreal, was up the Ottawa River to a por- 
tage into Lake Nipissing, and thence via Georgian Bay to Saulte Ste. 
Marie, via Manitou Island, and thence on the ice of Lake Superior 
to old Superior, Wisconsin, which they reached in February, 1821. 
There he signed articles of engagement with the American Fur 
Compau}', for a five years' apprenticeship and in due course of 
time was given a small outpost to manage, and later on was 
placed in charge of the trading post at Red Lake, Minnesota. 

About 1825 he married Charlotte Louisa Chabrille, a mixed 
blood Chippewa born at (lid Fort William, on Lake Superior ; by 
her he had several children, the only ones now surviving being Mrs. 
Mary A. Sloan of St. Cloud. Mrs. Caroline Grandelmyer and Miss 
Rachel Morrison of Brainerd, and John George and Allan Morrison 
of White Earth. All have allotments of land on the White Earth 
Indian Reservation, where John, George and Allan built substantial 
homes on their farms. 

During the many years he was engaged in the fur trade, Allan 
Morrison was successively in charge of nearly all the American Fur 
Company's trading posts in Northern Minnesota, and finally he 
settled down at Crow Wing, on the Mississippi, an important post, 
where he represented the interests of the late Henry M. Rice, during 
the period that gentleman engaged in the fur trade in the upper 
Mississippi country. 

He was a member of the Territorial Legislature of Minnesota, 
and Morrison County was named for him ; was also postmaster at 
Crow Wing, Minnesota, for several years. 

Leaving Crow Wing in the fall of 1874, he removed to White 
Earth, Becker County, where he resided to the time of his death, 
November 21, 1876, and where he was buried in the Catholic ceme- 
tery. 

Geo. a. Morison. 



John George Morrison. 

John George Morrison, son of Allan and nephew of William, 
was born at Lake Winnebegoshish, Minnesota. April 29th, 1843, 
where his father was managing a trading post for the American 
Fur Company. 

He attended the Mission Schools at Crow Wing and Belle Prairie. 
Minnesota, for a few years, but was compelled to quit school on ac- 



268 



A rioxKivR History of Becker County. 



count of his father's ill health ; he soon became the mainstay of the 
family and so continued until his brother Allan became old enough to 
take his place. 

While yet a mere boy, he carried on some trading with the 
Indians around Gull Lake and towards Leech Lake, and became quite 
popular with them ; during the Indian outbreak he was chosen by 




MK. AXD MRS. JOHN GEORGE MORRISON. 



Governor Ramsey and the Indians themselves to carry messages be- 
tween the two camps and in that capacity rendered valuable services. 
After the Civil War, in 1865, the United States government, de- 
siring to ascertain the true conditions and feelings of the Indian 
tribes, organized, at all Indian agencies, bodies of scouts, whose 
mission was to enquire into and report the causes of troubles and dis- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 269 

satisfaction among the Indians. These scouts were chosen from 
among the intehigent and loyal mixed bloods, and were placed under 
the supervision of the military authorities. 

Upon the recommendation of the officer then in command at 
Fort Ripley, John George Morrison was placed in charge of the 
scouts at the Crow Wing Agency, and so remained until the corps 
was disbanded. July 3rd, 1863, he married Margaret Elizabeth 
Fairbanks, daughter of Robert Fairbanks and Catherine Beaulieu. 
Ten children were born to them ; six in Crow Wing and four near 
White Earth Agency. Two lived only a few years, the others are, 
with the exception of his daughter ]Mrs. Julia A. Spears, (the sec- 
ond ) , who lives at Red Lake, all members of the Wliite Earth Reser- 
vation, and- possess valuable landed interests there. He removed to 
the White Earth Reservation, from old Crow Wing, on the Missis- 
sippi, in the fall of 1874, and some years afterwards entered the gov- 
ernment service and occupied several positions, being successivelv 
captain of Indian police and judge of the court of Indian offenses, 
and later government farmer, which position he held until the 
winter of 1892-3. In the fall of 1893, he removed to Red Lake, 
and has since successfully carried on hotel keeping and trading. 



George A. Morison. 

George A. Morison, nephew of William and Allan Morrison, was 
born in St. Hyacinthe, Province of Quebec, Canada, October 4th, 
1839; his father being Donald Geo. Morison and his mother M. A. 
Rosalie Papineau, daughter of D. B. Papineau, and niece of the Hon. 
Louis Papineau, the talented leader of the French element in Canada, 
and the principal instigator of the Canadian rebellion of 1837. 

Morison attended common schools until nearly ten years of age, 
then went to college for five years in his native village, rounding up 
his education with a four year term in a large village store. 

He visited the west in 1858 and 1859, spending several months 
in Old Superior, Wisconsin, in Crow Wing on the ^lississippi, and 
also at Long Prairie, the old agency for the Winnebago Indians. 

That was in the early days, when travel was by canoes or over 
Indian trails, and the trip from Superior to Crow Wing was made 
in a birch canoe, up the St. Louis River to Floodwood River, wdiich 
was followed nearly to its source, thence over a portage into Prairie 



2/0 A I'loxKEK History of Ceckkr County. 

River, which fiows into Sandy Lake, and thence into the Mississipi 
River. 

He returned to Canada in November, 1859, where he remained 
a few years. In May 1865, he landed in St. Paul, Minnesota, and 
lived in Little Falls and Crow Wing during the next three or four 
years. 

He started in business at Leech Lake in January, 1869, and in the 
fall of the same year came to White Earth annuity pa\ment with a 
stock of goods which he eventually closed out to Wm. W. McArthur, 
then a licensed Indian trader there. In August. 1870, Morison and 
McArthur combined their business and carried on trading in the 
Indian country, under government license, at Leech Lake, Red 
Lake. White Earth and Otter Tail, under the above firm name, dis- 
solving co-partnership in August, 1871 ; Morison retaining all trad- 
ing posts in the Chippewa countr\-, except that of Otter Tail, where 
McArthur continued in business. Morison remained in the Indian 
trade until July, 1880, and made his heaquarters at White Earth 
Agency during the last five years of his career as an Indian trader. 
He. however, continued to live on the reservation, wdiere he carried 
on farming and stock raising, on a small scale, with his cousin Allan 
Morrison, Jr. 

In the fall of 1882, he in company with Arnold A. Ledeboer, also 
of White Earth, opened a general store at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, 
(at that time a very much boomed town), but owing to a series of 
bad crop years, low prices, and general dull times, the venture was 
not successful and they closed their business in 1887; Morison re- 
turning to White Earth. 

In 1894, he entered government service at White Earth Agency, 
and later, in January 1896, was stationed at Red Lake Sub-Agency, 
as reservation overseer, a position he held until July ist, 1901. 
when he returned to White Earth. Since January, 1905, he has 
formed part of the office stafif at the agency, having charge of the 
allotting of land under the provisions of the "Steenerson Act." 

Ry an Indian wife he has one son, Allan F. Morison, born Febru- 
ary 6th, 1882. He has been in the government Indian service for 
a number of years and is now attached to the agency ofiice force. 

It will be noticed that William and Allan ^lorrison wrote their 
names with two r's, while Geo. A. Morison wTites the name with 
only one r, as did a long line of ancestors before him. This differ- 
ence in writing the name, was brought about in a curious manner. 



A PioxEiJR History of Becker Couxtv. 271 

When William Morrison joined the Northwest Fur Company, he 
had to sign articles of engagement, as they called it at the time, to 
serve for five years, and the notary who did the writing, wrote the 
name Morrison, as did other branches of the family; when W'illiam 
came to sign, he called the notary's attention to the error in spelling, 
but was told that it mattered little, to sign it as written and it would 
be just as good. Several years later when Allan IMorrison, his broth- 
er, came to Lake Superior, he also had to write his name as his 
elder brother did, and hence the change in their manner of writing 
the name. In the Island of Lewis, Scotland, which is the cradle of 
the family, the name has been spelt for a thousand years or more, 
with only one r, thus, Morison. 



Donald McDonald. 
r^Irs. Duncan IMcDougal, who lives on the White Earth Reserva- 
tion a little north of the village of Richwood says : 

My father. Donald IMcDonald. was born in Canada about the year 1790. 
He came to Otter Tail Lake about the year 1850 or 1851 as near as I can 
remember, and died at White Earth in iSgo, and was about 100 years old 
as near as I can tell. I was born at Sandy Lake in 1831. 

My father had a store at Detroit Lake and traded with the Indians 
for about one year. I was not there with him, but as near as I can 
remember and find out, it was near where Detroit connects with some 
other lake. I was not married at the time so it must, I think, be more 
than fifty years ago. 

The U. S. land oi^ce was opened at Otter Tail Lake in 1859 and was 
moved to St. Cloud in 1861, at the beginning of the Sioux outbreak. Wm. 
Sawyer, of Ohio, was the receiver. Major J. B. Clitheral. of Alabama, was 
the first register, T. Mills the second, and Oscar Taylor the third register. 

Mrs. Mary McDoug.\l Foster. 

John Rock, a Pine Point Indian, who was born at Floyd Lake in 
Detroit Township in 1844, says: 

McDonald built his store at Detroit Lake on the little prairie, a little 
west of the Pelican River inlet when he was ten years old. He thinks he 
traded there about two years. 

"FATHEll" GILFILLAN'S SELP^-SACRIFICING LABORS IN THE NORTH 

WOODS. 
In the history of such a man as the Rev. J. A. Gilfillan, of White 
Earth, for instance, there is a mass of material which would afTord inspira- 
tion for the mission writer at long range such as no published statistical 
reports could faintly suggest. Mr. Gilfillan's life has been one of the most 
heroic and self-sacrificing in all the history of missions — home or foreign. 



272 A PioxKER History of Becker County. 

Privation, exposure, separation from friends, isolation from the world — 
these are but suggestions of what such a man must endure. 

Many a time while the newspaper man was in the woods did he hear 
of "Father" Gilfillan. You could hardly find a man in all the vast un- 
settled reservations of Minnesota who does not know this man. You 
can hear many and many a story about him, but you will not hear one 
that is not settled in a foundation of good will. He came to America 
from England when quite young. A quarter of a century ago he was 
rector in a small church in Duluth. Thirty-two years ago, he went into 
the pine woods, and there he has been ever since, a mission worker among 
the Indians. 

Some years ago, Mr. Gilfillan fell heir to a large fortune, left him by 
relatives in England. There were many thousands of dollars which came 
to his hand. A large amount of this has been expended already, but, so it 
is said, enough yet remains to net an income of about $12,000 a year, and 
this amount is annually being spent. And how? In doing good among 
the Indians. A large block of his fortune was spent for them, and now, 
save for the needs of himself and family, the major portion of his income 
goes to aid the Indians. 

A quite interesting and, in one sense, amusing experience was told of 
his generosity. Mr. Gilfillan had bought a car load of seed potatoes, 
which he w^as going to give to the Indians to plant. He had the potatoes 
sent up to the reservation by team, but was himself delayed in getting 
there. When he reached home, a week or so later, he found that the 
tribe had made rather more immediate use of the potatoes than he had 
anticipated — they had eaten up the whole car load. 

Mr. Gilfillan is one of the most modest of men, speaks in the most 
unassuming manner of his work, and has never a word of complaint over 
his isolation from the world, or the privations to which he is put. — Minne- 
apolis Journal. 



Clipping- from the first number of the first volume of the first 
ne\vs])aper ever i^rinted on the \\'hite Eat-th Reservation : 

THE PROGRESS. 

"A Higher Civilization; The .Mainlcname of Law and Order." 
GUS. H. BEAULIEU, Publisher. TH EO. H. BEAULIEU, Editor. 

Vol. I. WHITE EARTH AGENCY, MINN., THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1886. No. I. 

SALUTATORY. 

With lliis ninnljcr we make our bow to the public. The novelty of a 
newspaper published upon this reservation may cause many to be wary in 
their support, and this from a fear that it may be revolutionary in character. 
Our motto will undeceive such. We propose to remain true to this 
motto, true to the standard of social and individual morality it would ex- 
press. W'e shall aim to advocate constantly and without reserve, what 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 273 

in our view, and in the view of the leading minds upon this reservation, is 
the best for the interests of its residents. And not only for their interests, 
but those of the tribe wherever they are now residing. 

The main consideration in this advocacy, will be the political interests, 
that is, in matters relating us to the general goverment of the United 
States. We shall not antagonize the government, nor act in the presenta- 
tion of our views in any way outside of written or moral law. 

We intend that this journal shall be the mouth-piece of the community 
in making known abroad and at home, what is for the best interests of 
the tribe. It is not always possible to reach the fountain head through 
subordinates, it is not always possible to appeal to the moral entiment 
of the country through these sources, or by communications through the 
general press. 

Hence we establish TJie Progress as an organ, and an organ only 
in this sense. 

ARROGANT SUPPRESSION OF THE PRESS! 

A MENIAL AND SERVILE ACTION. 



A Decision of the Judge and the Verdict of an Intelligent Jury, Maintains 
the Freedom of the Press on the Reservation! 

Oct. 8th, 1887. 
In the month of March last year, we began setting the type for the 
first number of The Progress and were almost ready to go to press, 
when our sanctum was invaded by T. J. Sheehan, the U. S. Indian Agent, 
accompanied by a posse of the Indian police. The composing stick was 
removed from our hands, our property seized, and ourselves forbidden to 
proceed with the publication of the journal. We had, prior to this time, 
been personally served with a written notice from Mr. Sheehan detailing 
at length, surmises beyond number as to the character of The Progress, 
togther with gratuitions assumptions as to our moral unfitness to be upon 
the reservation, charging the publisher with the voicing of incendiary 
and revolutionary sentiments at various times. We did not believe that 
any earthly power had the right to interfere with us as members of the 
Chippewa tribe, and at the White Earth Reservation, while peacefully pur- 
suing the occupation we had chosen. We did not believe thre existed a 
law which should prescribe for us the occupation we should follow. We 
knew of no law which could compel us to become agricuuturists, pro- 
fessionals, "hewers of wood and drawers of water," or per contra, could 
restrain us from engaging in these occupations. Therefore we respectfully 
declined obeying the mandate, at the same time reaching the conclusion 
that should we be restrained we should appeal to the courts for protection. 
We were restrained and a guard set over our property. We sought 
the protection of the courts, notwithstanding the assertion of the agent, 
that there could be no jurisdiction in the matter. 

The U. S. district court. Judge Nelson in session, decided that we 
were entitled to the jurisdiction we sought. 

The case came up before him, on jury trial. The court asserted and 
defended the right of any member of a tribe to print and publish a news- 



274 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

paper upon his reservation just as he might engage in any other lawt'ul 
occupation, and without surveillance and restrictions. The jury before 
whom the amount of damage came, while not adjudging the amount asked 
for, did assess and decree a damage with a verdict restoring to us our plant. 

EXPLANATOK^■. 
By referring to the date on the first page of this issue, our readers 
will observe that we made our bow, or rather, more strictly, we began to 
bow, but a heavy hand was laid upon us, and we have not been able to 
resume the perpendicular until now. In another column, we give a de- 
tailed account of the proceedings which arrested our work, together with 
the subsequent events which issued in our being able to finish the bow 
began so long ago. Our editorial back is straight once more, and we 
return to the work we laid out for ourselves so many months ago, with 
vigor and courage in no wise abated, and with renewed determination to 
advance the interests of the reservation, and the welfare of the Indian 
in general. 

APOLOOKTIC. 

Kind readers, many of you have looked for our coming long and 
patiently, and now that we are with you and you have looked us over, you 
may feel that your yearning was unfitting the occasion; to such we would 
say, that the long time which has elapsed since we first attempted to 
launch our little craft, which was attended with difficulties, the rough 
blustering breezes, the general unfavor of the weather, the unnecessary 
quarantine we were subject to, and the time employed in dry dock, etc., 
somewhat disorganized our material and we have had to alter our once 
set course to suit circumstances. 

Now that we are once more at sea, fumigated and out of quarantine, 
and we issue from dry dock with prow and hull steel-clad tempered with 
truth and justice, and with our clearance registered, we once more box 
our compass, invite you all aboard, and we will clear port, set sails to 
favorable breezes, with the assurance that we will spare no pains in guiding 
you to a 'higher civilization." 

A NOTED VISITOR. 

On Aug. i8, 1896, Senator Knute Nelson, accompanied by the famous 
French traveler and explorer, Paul du Chaillu, arrived on a visit to the 
Chippewa Indians of the White Earth Reservation. During the day tlie 
gentlemen drove around and visited the different places of interest al)out 
the agency. 

The next day a large delegation of the Chippewas, head men and 
members of the reservation assembled at the agency office for a "l)ig smoke 
and to make good inedicine" and to smoke the pipe of peace and welcome 
the great father's councilor and his distinguished friend, the great hunter. 
The late lamented chieftain. White Cloud, acted as master of ceremony, 
and his choicest native oratory, through an interpreter, made the address 
of welcome, and which was responded to in feeling words of appreciation 
by the senator. Paul du Chaillu, a small, sparsely built and grizzled 
Frenchman, was then introduced as the "big hunter, from the land of the 



A Pioneer History ok Becker County. 275 

Win-de-go-cannibals," and he entertained the assemblage with some very 
interesting recitals, illustrating, by motion and gestures, some of his ex- 
citing and perilous experiences in hunting the gorilla, lion and tiger, 
and hair-breadth escapes from cannibals, etc., greatly to the amusement 
of his audience. "Yes, my friends," said he, "you shall have a good 
school building if it lies in my power to provide one." — Minneapolis Tribune. 
—Feb. 4th, 1897. 
Mrs. West. 



Chapter XIX. 

ORGANIZATION OF BECKER COUNTY. 

The county was organized by a special law approved March ist, 
1 87 1. This law authorized the governor, Horace Austin, to appoint 
a board of county commissioners, three in number, for Becker Coun- 
ty. The commissioners appointed were John Cromb, John F. Beav- 
er, and Chris. Gardner, and their terms of office were to continue un- 
til the beginning of the year 1872. The Tyler Hotel at Detroit was 
the place appointed for their first meeting, which occurred on the 
23rd day of June, 1871. They were sworn in by David Pyle, a no- 
tary public. 

At this meeting David Pyle was appointed county auditor to 
serve until the first Monday in March 1872. Previous to 1882, the 
terms of all county auditors and treasurers commenced on that day. 
At this same meeting Charles E. Churchill of Burlington Township 
was appointed sheriff and Archibald McArthur, of Detroit, register 
of deeds, to serve until the beginning of the year 1872. 

The next meeting of the board was held at the store of S. B. 
Pinnev. on the Sherman farm, at Oak Lake, on the 5th day of July. 
The next meeting was held the 15th day of August. There was then 
a vacancy on the board caused by the death of Mr. Gardner, and 
William G. Woodworth of Detroit was appointed to fill his place. 
The county board on the 24th day of September, 1871, for the 
first time, divided the county into commissioners" districts. The 
first district was made up of the southern tier of townships running 
the entire length of the county, from east to west with Lake Park 
added to it. The next tier of townships north, excepting Lake Park, 
comprised the second district. The three northern tiers of town- 
ships, twelve of which were on the White Earth Reservation, made 



276 A Pioneer History oI'^ Bij^cker County. 

up the third district. An entirely new board was elected in the fall 
of 1871. 

On Jan. 2nd, 1872, the new board of county commissioners held 
their first meeting. There were present commissioners L. G. Steven- 
son, first district, and W. H. H. Howe, second district. A. J. Haney, 
who had been elected from the third district, had left the county. 
The various meetings of the county board up to this time had been 
held sometimes at Detroit and more frequently at Finney's store on 
the Sherman farm, on the shore of Oak Lake, but on the 13th day 
of March, 1872, they met at Oak Lake City, by the big cut on the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. At this meeting there was a full board ; 
J. E. Vangorden having been appointed to fill the vacant place in the 
3rd district. The next meeting was held at Detroit on the 8th of 
June, 1872. On Tuesday, Sept. loth, 1872, the board again met 
at Detroit. When the legislature passed the bill organizing Becker 
County and designating Detroit as the place at which the county 
commissioners should hold their first meeting, it was generally 
understood that that act of legislature fixed the county seat at 
Detroit. It was currently reported in those days that many years 
before, a townsite had been surveyed out at Detroit Lake and 
named Detroit, and that circumstance was supposed to have had 
its influence with the authorities in appointing that place for the 
county seat. The law, however, did not require the county officers 
to remain at the county seat until three years after the county was 
organized. Court was always to be held there, but to transact 
business with any one of the county officers, you must hunt him 
up by going to his residence in whatever part of the county his home 
might be. 

The county treasurer and the sherifif and sometimes the coroner 
however, frequently reversed this rule and took pains to hunt some 
of the other fellows up, whether they wanted to see them or not. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 2'/'j 

Chapter XX. 

TOWNSHIP HISTORY. 

In presenting the histories of the different townships of Becker 
County I have undertaken to arrange them in the order in which they 
were first settled, but in a few instances I have deviated from this 
rule to avoid too much skipping around over the county. 

HISTORY OF BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP. 

On the 27th of May, 1857, the survey of a townsite was made 
at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, where the village of 
Frazee now stands, and the plat was recorded at St. Cloud, as Becker 
County was at that time attached to Stearns County for recording 
purposes. 

It was claimed that the land covered by this townsite was held 
by half-breed script, but the title was never perfected. The script 
was undoubtedly "lifted" some time afterward and other land 
taken with it, and this land reverted back to the U. S. government. 
The certificate of the plat is signed by N. P. Aspinwall, surveyor. 
He was an uncle to Wm. Aspinwill, who now operates a store at 
Pine Point. 

I have a certified plat of the townsite in my possession at the 
present time. The townsite is bounded and described as follows : 
"Commencing at an oak tree at the southwest corner of said town- 
site, and running thence north, crossing the Otter Tail River and De- 
troit Lake, five thousand two hundred and eighty feet, thence 
running east, crossing the Otter Tail River, two thousand nine 
hundred and fifty-eight feet, thence running south five thousand two 
hundred and eighty feet, thence west two thousand nine hundred 
and fift}-eight feet to the place of beginning." 

The names of the proprietors were A. P. Aspinwall, F. Campbell, 
Donald McDonald, George McDougal and D. Shoff. 

Frank AT. Campbell, of White Earth, now a man over seventy 
years of age, informs me that he is the F. Campbell mentioned as 
one of the proprietors, and Donald McDonald the old Otter Tail 
Lake fur trader was another. The townsite was one mile long north 
and south and three hundred and ten feet more than half a mile 



2/8 A I'loXI'.l'K IIlSToKV OF BECKER CoUNTV. 

wide from east to west, and contained about three hundred and fiity- 
eight and one-half acres of land. 

Judging from the topography as shown on the plat, the town- 
site would very nearly fit the west half of Section 35 in the present 
township of Burlington, except that it was somewhat wider. The 
west line must have been near where the bridge across Town Lake 
now stands, and the east line very near the railroad bridge crossing 
the Otter Tail River, the north end near the Commonwealth Com- 
pany sawmill, and the south end some distance south of the residence 
of Edward Briggs. 

The plat shows one hundred and thirty-one blocks, with streets 
to correspond. Even the big marsh along the river south of Frazee 
between the railroad bridge and the outlet to Town Lake is mapped 
into blocks and lots with great precision. 

In the written description Detroit is said to be located at "the 
southern end of a beautiful lake called Detroit Lake at the third 
crossing of the Otter Tail River, twenty-two miles northwest of 
Otter Tail City. This place is on the direct route between Lake 
Superior and Pembina. The face of the country to the west con- 
sists chiefly of beautiful prairies and lakes, while on the east there 
are large bodies of hard and pine wood timber. There are two 
water powers at this place capable of running a grist and saw- 
mill." The narrow place on the Otter Tail River where the Com- 
monwealth Lumber Company has built its bridge near its sawmill is 
marked on this plat as "Mill Property." The other mill site is 
marked below^ the outlet of Town Lake. 



Patrick Quinlan. 

I will here insert a short article, written by Patrick Quinlan, the 
first white settler in Burlington Township, giving an account of 
himself and the first settlement of the tow^nship. 

RiciiwooD, December 26, 1903. 
I was born in Canada close to the village of Norwood, on the 15th 
day of February. 1836. My father and mother were Irish. I lived and 
worked on my father's farm until I started west. The railroad was built 
only to the lead mines beyond Galena. III. I arrived in St. Paul in May. 
1854. St. Paul was a very small village at that time. I stayed one night, 
took the steamboat at St. Anthony the next day and came to Sauk Rapids. 
No Minneapolis or St. Cloud at that time existed. I started for Long 
Prairie, and it was Winnebago Agency at that time. The first man I 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 279 

worked for lived down below Big Lake and he was a new settler, by the 
name of Foiles. I worked two months and a half at twenty dollars per 
month and I never got my pay. He accidentally shot himself, and his wife 
promised to pay me, but I never troubled her about the money. It was 
a bad start, however, as I lost a good deal of my wages afterwards. For 
three or four years before the war when a man got his money, very often 
it was no good, no one would accept it. Every man that was doing any 
business had what was called a bank detector. I worked for a man named 
Bonfield, who lived at Rice Lake near St. Anthony. He was in the lum- 
ber business and paid me a hundred and twenty dollars and the money 
was no good. In the year 1859 a man on his way to Red River offered 
me twelve dollars a month if I would go and help him through and work 
for him through the winter which I did, commencing the spring of i860. 
I got a chance to work as watchman on the first steamboat on the Red 
River owned by Mr. Burbank, of St. Cloud. The boat was built by Mr. 
Anson Northrup at Georgetown and after working on the boat a while 
I got tired of the business and a man came and offered me twenty dollars 
a month to go with a party out to the Blackfoot country. They were going 
to trade for horses, so I started with them in a party of eight. After trav- 
eling some days we found ourselves among the buffalo. After traveling 
through that country and seeing so many bufifalo, I thought they would al- 
way^s remain. We struck the Blackfoot trail close to Bear Paw Mountain, 
and followed the trail northwest four days before we overtook the Indians. 
During the time we were following the Indian trail we saw many buffalo 
that the Indians had killed and left without taking any part of them for their 
own use. There were also a great many wolves. When we got within about 
two miles of an Indian camp we met some Indians who were going out 
on a hunt. Our boss treated them to some whisky which they liked very 
much and one of them asked for some whisky to carry to his friend who 
was out hunting. Our interpreter asked him how he could carry it. He 
said he could carry it, and he doubled up the tail of his leather shirt, 
poured in the whiskey, tied a string around it and so started off. We soon 
arrived at the camp, and I was surprised to see so many horses and we 
got quite a number and started for Fort Gary. While on our return trip 
three of us concluded to run bufifalo one evening, and so we started out 
after a large herd and we managed to kill one large bull which we shot 
over twenty times before he fell. We found it very inconvenient to load 
our guns while on horseback. While coming through the Assiniboine 
country the Assiniboines took some of our horses from us. We were 
out on that trip something over two months, more than half of the time 
we lived on buflfalo meat alone. 

In the fall of 1862 I came back to St. Cloud with a wagon train 
belonging to Mr. Burbank of that place. We expected to have trouble 
with the Sioux Indians, but we did not. From 1862 to 1868 I remained 
at Crow Wing a good part of the time and worked for the government. 
I came to Becker County, ]\Iay 28th, 1868, and built a cabin near where 
Frazee now stands. The land was not surveyed at that time and the 
railroad company beat me out of three forties of my claim, that part 
which was on Section 35. The land now belongs to Edward Briggs. I 



28o A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

built my house on what is now the southwest quarter of the southwest 
quarter of Section 35, a little cast of the Otter Tail River. 

In June, 1868, Mr. Henry Way and Mr. Sherman came but went on to 
Oak Lake, west of Detroit where they put up hay to use the next winter. 
The next person after myself to settle in Burlington township was Charles 
E. Churchill. He came about the first of June, 1870, the same year the 
railroad was surveyed. I helped him build his house, hauling the logs 
with my team. His house was built on the west side of the river, nearly 
opposite where it intersects the lake (in what is now Schebaher's field). 
The next newcomers were William Chilton, T. W. Chilton and William 
Redpath, who came some time in June 1870. Jim and Redpath soon went 
back but about the 20th of August returned and James Chilton and James 
Winram came with them. When I came the nearest settlers were at Rush 
Lake; Otter Tail City was the nearest store. When I came onto the 
place I paid two dollars and twenty-five cents a bushel for ten bushels of 
potatoes at Otter Tail City. Flour was seven dollars per sack, pork thirty- 
five cents per pound. During the first winter I had to carry my flour, 
pork and other supplies on my back from Otter Tail City. It was im- 
possible to go with oxen the snow was so deep and no road. The first 
summer I was there I put up about thirty tons of hay and thought I 
could sell it to parties who were hauling supplies to White Earth for 
the Indians who had been removed there that summer by the government: 
but as soon as cold weather set in they hauled all their supplies around 
by Leech Lake, and I was unable to sell any hay. I started from Otter 
Tail City one day about the middle of February on Indian snowshoes. 
I had about eighty pounds of flour and other stuff on my back. Night 
overtook me not far from where Perham now stands. It was cloudy and 
dark and I got lost. After wandering about for a long time I came to 
the Oter Tail River about a mile below the crossing and walked up until 
I came to the crossing, then I knew where I was. But there was an open 
space in the ice so I had to step into the water. The space was not very 
wide and the water only a little above my knees. The night was not cold 
and I traveled about a mile, and finding myself pretty tired, stopped 
and rested. When I started I discovered that I was unable to carry my 
pack, so I had to leave it until next day. I arrived home sometime after 
midnight a very tired man. 

William Thompson was my first neighbor. He came up the next sum- 
mer and located where Thomas Keys now lives in Otter Tail County. 

There were lots of ducks, chickens and other game at that time and I 
shot a large bear. When I first saw her she had a large cub with her. 
I did not have my gun with me then. It was at the north end of the 
grove, near where Edward Briggs now lives, and they were going to that 
rocky hill west by the river. So I went home and got the gun, which 
was loaded with shot and I added a bullet into each barrel and started 
after her. Hunting around for some time in the brush, I heard her run, 
but I could not see her owing to the density of the brush. After running 
a little way I saw her as she went west toward the river. I took a short 
cut, but when I arrived was not sure whether she was ahead of me or not. 
So I walked about watching very carefully for some time and was sur- 




CHARLES E. CHURCHILL. 



WILLIAM G. CHILTON. 




JAMES WINRAM. 



LEONARD A. ASHLEY. 



282 A I'loNHKK History of Becker Couxtv. 

prised all at once to see her standing on her hind feet about six feet 
away from me. I aimed at her breast and pulled the trigger, but the gun 
did not go of¥. It seemed to scare her and she got down and walked away 
sideways a few feet with her head turned toward me. I pulled the other 
trigger, the gun went off and she fell, and I loaded that barrel again be- 
fore I went to where she was lying. She was dead. I found that I had shot 
her between the eyes. I could not find the cub. I shot some other 
game; two wild cats, some mink and one red fox. 

After living there four years and losing my claim. I concluded to 
move to White Earth. So I found a claim that suited me north of the 
Bufifalo River. I took the land in my wife's name and we are still living 
on the same land. My health has been very poor for some time and I 
do not expect to get rich, but I am content. I do not think it best 
to trouble you any more. 

Yours truly, 

P. QUINLAN. 

Patrick Ouinlan died at his home near Rich wood the loth of 
March, 1905. \\'iniam G. Chilton built on the land now occupied 
by his heirs. His cabin stood on the west bank of the Otter Tail 
River close to his old bridge forty or fifty rods above where the 
planing mill now stands. 

James G. Chilton built on Section 15 on the same land where 
he now resides. James was for several years a sailor on Lake 
Ontario in his younger days, and served a term in a military com- 
pany in Canada and was on the Northern Pacific R. R. survey. 

T. \\\ Chilton built on Section 27, near the ttppcr end of Town 
Lake. 

James Winram located and built on Section 14, down near 
the tamarack swamp, opposite where Tim. Chilton's hotise now 
stands. 

William Redpath built a house a little west of where the Ittmber 
platform of the big sawmill is now. He afterwards sold his claim 
to Charles M. Campbell, who proved up on the sotith tier of forties 
of vSection 26 where the steam mill and lumber piles now stand. 
C. M. Campbell came to Becker County in May, 1872. 

The next settler after those mentioned by Ouinlan who came into 
the township was John Graham, who came in October, 1870, and 
selected the land where he now resides, and went back for his family 
and returned with them August 25th, 1871. Then came Patrick 
O'Neil wdio was then a beardless youth but seventeen years old ; 
he came on the 4th day of December, 1870. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 283 

Next came Luther Weymouth and Chris. Gardner on the tenth 
of December of the same year. Mrs. Weymouth came in March, 
1871. 

Early in the spring of 1871 Weymouth and Gardner built and 
opened up a hotel on the south side of the river, near where the 
present Perham road starts to come down the hill towards the 
river. 

Johnson Wilson, late in the year of 1870, selected a place on the 
northwest quarter of Section 20, wdiere David Graham now re- 
sides. Pie built his house the next summer in a fine spruce grove, 
but the trees have since all been destro3'ed by the winds and 
storms. There was a fine little prairie covering several acres of 
land, a little east of his house at that time. 

In 1 87 1 there was c|uite an influx of settlers into the township. 
August Trieglaff and Anthonv Komansparger came about the first of 
June and located on Section 24. The Trieglafi:' bo\'s now own 
both farms. 

In the spring of this same year Robert McPhee and family 
located on the northwest quarter of Section 10, and, about the 
same time, James ^Maxwell settled on Section 28 with his family, 
where the Richmonds now reside. 

William Hoffman came into Burlington Township in June, 1871, 
from Fort Madison, Iowa, and the following spring took a home- 
stead on the northeast quarter of Section 22. He is a veteran of 
the Civil War, and still resides in the vicinity. 

1. J. Collins came to this county in 1871, but went back to New 
York and returned with his family on the i8th of May, 1872, and 
located on the southeast quarter of Section 34. 

Roscoe Dow located on Section 20 on the 25th of June, 1871. 

E. L. W' right came from Vermont and located on the south- 
west quarter of Section 10, in May, 1872. 

Wm. Hehrhold and family came to Burlington about the 15th 
of October, 1873, from iMissouri and settled on Section 28, where 
they still reside. 

In May, 1871, William Austin located on Section 32, on what 
is now known as the John Brigg's farm. He usually went by the 
name of "Billy Chicken." 

Mr. John Chilton moved into this township from Canada in the 
year 1873 and located on Section 14. He was accompanied by his 
wife, his son John R. Chilton, and three single daughters, one of 





JAMES G. CHILTON. 



MRS. J.\MES G. CHILTOX. 




GUV CHILTON. 



MRS. LUTHFK WEYMOUTH. 



A PioNEiiR History of Becker County. 285 

whom afterwards married William Redpath. The other two daugh- 
ters married Patrick O'Xeil and James Scott, two prosperous farm- 
ers who still live in the neighborhood. 

Another daughter, Mrs. C. W. Campbell and husband came into 
the township in 1872, and still another, Mrs. John Cummer, came 
with her husband from Canada in 1884. 

John Chilton, Sr., was born in \^ermont and died in Burlington 
Township on the 26th of November, 1886, aged 75 years. 

Mrs. James Chilton was the first white woman to settle in 
Burlington, arriving on the 4th dav of December, 1870, and her 
son, Guy Chilton, was the first white child born in the township. 
He first saw the light in James G. Chilton's log cabin, which stood 
on Section 15, on the i6th day of April, 1872. 

The first death in the township was that of Chris. Gardner, which 
occurred about the loth of August, 1871. Mr. Gardner was a 
member of the board of county commissioners at the time of his 
death. 

The person who taught the first school in Burlington Township 
was Miss Nellie F. Brigham, of Richwood, now Mrs. C. H. Potter, 
of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She says: "I think I may safely claim 
the honor of having taught the first school in Frazee. I began my 
school there about the 20th of May, 1874. The school numbered 
seventeen pupils and I can recall them all by name now if necessary. 
The schoolhouse was a new structure. I boarded at the Thompkin's 
Hotel. It is a source of great pleasure that I am numbered with 
my two sisters among the earliest instructors of Becker County." 

The first marriage in the township was that of T. W. Chilton 
and Amelia Rider on November 24th, 1873, by the Rev. J. E. Wood, 
of Detroit. 



Bachinana. 



The following article written by William W. Howard will 
imdoubtedly be read with much interest, especially by some of 
the first settlers in the western part of the county. He was the 
compassman for George B. Wright, the U. S. government sur- 
veyor, who had the contract for surveying the township lines ly- 
ing between the 9th and loth standard parallels and the 5th and 
6th guide meridian, which includes Silver Leaf, Height of Land, 
Grand Park, Plolmesville, Erie, Burlington, Lake View, Detroit, 



286 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Ricluvood. Ilamden, AudutxMi. Lake Eunice, Cormorant, Lake 
Park, Cuba and six townships in Clay County and seven in Otter 
Tail. Air. Howard ran all these town lines for George B. Wright 
and then ran the section lines in Lake Park. Audubon, Lake \"ie\v 
and lUirlington. He began in the eastern part of this work in 
April, 1870, and finished about the middle of the next winter, 
among his assistants were John A. 1'.. McDonell and William 
McDoncll, of Lake Eunice. In 1871, he was sent out by the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad Company as one of its laud examiners, and in 
August I joined his party and remained with him until winter. 

In 1883, Vvdiile I was county auditor, I was authorized to pro- 
cure a set of certified plats of the townships of Becker County, 
and I employed Mr. Howard to do the \vork. The bound volume 
of government phts in the office of the register of deeds at Detroit 
is the work of Mr. Howard. 

St. P.\ul, AItw., Feb., 22, 1897. 
A. H. Wilcox, Esq.. 
Fk.^zee, Minn., 

Dear Old Friend:— You have asked me to give some account of my 
knowledge of our experience with Bachinaiui. It was early in the sea- 
son of 1870 that I left Minneapolis for the then une.xplored region of 
Becker County, George B. Wright having a government contract to run 
the township lines of twenty-four townships, extending north and west 
from Gormantown in Otter Tail County. Our outfit consisted of an ox- 
team, covered wagon, two tents, and the genera! outfit of a government 
survey where the country was mostly prairie and could consequently he 
reached by wagon. 

The old Red River trail ran through the timber from the Otter Tail 
to Oak Lake, and from Thompson's at the first mentioned point, to 
the three log houses at Oak Lake, comprising nearly all there was of 
civilization in the whole region. 

Our first line north landed us in a tamarack swamp, about one and a 
half miles east of where Frazee now stands, and our experienced camp-man 
and cook declared after some exploration that the way ahead was im- 
passable for team, if not for man. For want of knowing anything better 
to do, I sent a man back to civilization to consult George B. Wright, and 
not to be idle we started to subdivide Town 138, Range 39, Gormantown, 
trusting to get a contract for it when the township was finished. 

After about ten days of work, we were in the northwestern part of the 
town one afternoon, when, through the stillness of the forest, came float- 
ing on the air, a peculiar sound, indeed, for that country, but familiar to 
any one who had ever been on a survey with George B. Wright. "Who- 
o-pe," faint, and long drawn out. but most unmistakably George B's voice. 
'V on may be sure we were all alert, and shout after shout was answered 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 287 

back, though where he was or how he got there was a mystery. Soon 
the call came nearer, and it was not long before we saw a birch canoe 
coming up the river. We had by the merest chance happened to be just in 
the vicinity of the Otter Tail. In the canoe were "George B.," a half- 
breed — Charlie, the Indian, Bachinana or Neeche. The canoes were 
to take the place of our wagons, and the half-breed and Indian the place of 
the oxen, propelling the canoes, where available, and carrying our burdens 
on their heads where canoeing was impracticable. 

Packing a load of 100 lbs. by a strap over the forehead was a novelty 
to me then, and I well remember what I thought of the advice of one 
wiser than I, viz: "if the packs are not heavy enough to start with put in a 
few rocks." 

We reorganized our "survey" on that line, and managed to "swamp" 
a road for the team up the east side of the river to within about a mile 
of Height of Land Lake, and using that as our base of supplies, we run lines 
east and north by aid of the canoes and packers. With varying success 
we worked north until we reached Height of Land Lake, and after run- 
ning our line east across the lake, we found ourselves about a mile and a 
half east of the lake, at night fall, so we had to make camp for the night 
as best we could. We constructed a rough bough shelter and pitched our 
mosquito tents under it. These latter being a small square tent of mos- 
quito netting, six feet long, two feet wide and three feet high, suspended 
by the four corners on boughs stuck in the ground. By carefully get- 
ting under these tents we were safe for a while from the millions of mos- 
quitoes, that make life almost intolerable in a new country. 

Of course we had to be very guarded in our movements for a very 
slight strain on the mosquito netting would tear it and thus defeat its 
purpose. And "thereby hangs a tale." I was lying next to Joe Deloria, 
a French boy, who having been brought up among the half-breed Indians, 
could talk Chippewa, to which tribe Neeche belonged. About the time we 
were beginning to thing of sleep, it began to rain, and though our boughs 
were poor shelter it was enough to tempt the Indian and he crawled in be- 
tween Joe and myself. Being pitch dark, I did not see him and supposed 
it was Joe rolling over and thereby causing a big strain on my tent, placing 
it in imminent danger of tearing; my only hope of saving myself from be- 
ing devoured by the insects on the rest of the trip lay in having Joe get 
oflf my tent, so I called out sharply to him to do so, but Neeche under- 
stood not, so I reinforced my remarks with a threat of a "punch" if he 
did not lie over. Any one who has had to lie out in the woods all night 
at the mercy of mosquitos in a wet season knows what my provocation 
was. So I gave him a powerful dig in the ribs with my elbow, my back 
being to him. I never was noted for obesity and I suspect my elbow was 
sharp. 

Great was my surprise to hear only a deep grunt in place of the torrent 
of profanity I expected. Then I discovered that I had unknowingly and 
perhaps unjustly struck the revengeful Indian; as he had probably not been 
aware of his encroaching on my bed, nor had he understood my call and 



288 A Pioneer History oe Becker Couxtv. 

threat. Howevtr. I had saved my netting and got some sleep despite the 
rain. 

But when we turned out in the morning, the half-breed informed us that 
Neeche was going home. "White man had struck him." He said if I had 
used a hatchet (it might have saved some lives later if I had) it would not 
have been so bad, but to be struck with the fist "like a squaw" was too much 
for Chippewa pride. But by dint of coaxing and explanations and promises 
of a pair of buckskin leggings I had in camp, we pursuaded him to stay, 
notwithstanding he had donned his war paint, and was got up in great shape 
in his wTath. But he did not get over it as long as he was with us. When 
later we got out near the Red River trail, and met frequent bands of Chip- 
pewas, he would rehearse the whole afTair with no good will towards me. 
Indeed had I then known what kind of an Indian he really was, I doubt 
very much if I would have given him so much chance to do me harm. He 
told later that there were three white men he meant to shoot before he 
died; two he did shoot, I believe, perhaps I was the third. I remember 
I was a little suspicious of him and when running the line between Ranges 
39 and 40, Town 140, now Grand Park and Holmesville, I wanted to get 
my canoe into Tamarack Lake. It was in Height of Land Lake at the time. 
and I had understood the Indians to say that there was a good sized stream 
running from Tamarack Lake and emptying into the Otter Tail River near 
the reservation line, I started with my two Indians for Tamarack Lake by 
that route, and after paddling hard a whole day, we found ourselves in 
Flat Lake, one half of which lies on the reservation, instead of in Tamarack 
Lake. The mistake had arisen through a confusion of names on the part 
of the Indian and half-breed. 

I was anxious to reach Tamarack Lake that night, so in order to make 
sure of its location and identity, I left the half-breed to get supper and 
about sundown with Bachinana for a guide, started down tlie canoe trail 
due south to see if the next lake was really Tamarack Lake. I guess that 
was the l)est chance he ever had ii lie meant me any harm, but with a 
vivid remembrance of the ignominious "dig in the ribs" in mind, I com- 
pelled him to go in advance all the way, and carried my hatchet in my 
h;nd, knowing that a hatchet inspired more wholesome fear in an Indian, 
than would a revolver. 

I will confess to a feeling of satisfaction, not to say relief, when I heard 
he had gone to the "happy hunting ground." 

When in the mood for it he was for an Indian a good worker, but his 
reputation was to work only a short time until he got money enough to 
indulge in what seemed to be a ruling passion — gambling. He had very 
little regard for hutnan life. It was only by the superior strength of his 
antagonist that we escaped a tragedy in our camp a few weeks later and 
just before he left us. Our party, comprising at that time two more half- 
breeds, one, Peter, being a very powerful fellow. One night the gambling 
in their tent seemed to be more boisterous than usual, and Neeche pitted 
against two brothers, lialf-brcer's, lost everything even to the shirt on his 
back, when in anger, out to the wagon he rushed, and seized a gun. Noth- 
ing but Peter's superior strength saved him, but he managed to discharge 



A Pioneer History of Ueckek County. 289 

tlie gun in the air, during the struggle. We concluded it best to take all the 
firearms into our tents after that for our own safety. He left us soon after 
this, some time in July, I think, mainly because he had earned some $30 
and wanted to have a good time with it. I learned that he soon lost it all 
at gambling. 

Sometime in the fall the old man Carlson, living in the northwest 
part of Audubon Township, was called out of his home by the burning 
of his hay stacks one night, and shot by this same Indian. 

Of his subsequent career I think you are better informed than I am. 
Except for this passion for gambling, and his readiness with his gun when 
incensed, he was very tractable and mild for an Indian. 

William W. Howard. 

This Indian, Bachinana, is the same one who shot Gunder 
Carlson in October, 1870, as related in the history of Audubon 
Town.^hi]). 



James Winram Shot by an Indian. 
By J.\mes Winr.\m. 

Fr.azEE, ^Iinx., October 16, 1905. 
In the summer of 1870 when at work on the Northern Pacific 
Railroad survey helping to run the preliminary lines east of the 
IMississippi, I learned that the country near Otter Tail River and 
Detroit Lakes was a good location to make settlement. In the 
month of August, 1870, I left Sauk Rapids, which at that time 
was the end of railway communication, and in company with 
William Redpath and James G. and Timothy Chilton started 
across the country on foot, and after about six days' travel 
we reached what is now the township of Burlington, Becker 
County. Thinking we had gone far enough, we each of us se- 
lected claims and helped each other to get out logs and raise 
log houses besides putting up a few tons of hay. In the latter 
])art of September I walked to Crow ^^'ing and went to work on 
a government survey near Willow River and Sandy Lake. After 
we got through I walked back and found that during my absence 
of about three months the railroad company had located their line 
within two miles of my claim and the township had been sub-divided 
into sections. I now went to work on the house I had commenced 
a few months before and moved into it. New settlers began to 
come in and amongst them a family named Robert McFee, who had 
located about a mile from me. Mr. McFee's family consisted of 
himself, his wife and one infant child. I, being unmarried at the 



290 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

time, Mr. McFee proposed and I consented that he should move his 
family into my house as it would be more convenient for him while 
he was getting his own ready. By this time, I had got about two 
acres broken and fenced and in the spring of 1871 planted it to 
potatoes and other vegetables. About this time it began to be 
rumored that the Indians were growing restless and liable to make 
trouble, although at that time I did not feel much alarmed as I did 
not think they would molest us, but one day in the early part of 
June, 1 87 1, a man named Wilson, who was hunting a pair of stray 
oxen, came by my house and told me that the body of a man had 
been found in the brush near Rush Lake, with every indication that 
he had been killed by Indians. Mrs. McFee said she was not afraid 
of Indians ; she had lived in Wisconsin and they never troubled 
them there. 

One afternoon in the middle of June, I had occasion to go about 
a mile east of the house where I was making some shingles. McFee 
himself was at work about a mile northwest at his own house. 
There was a drizzling rain, and after I thought I had been in it long 
enough, I left for home. Before I reached the house I saw an 
Indian standing at the door with his gun in his hand, but as that 
was not an unusual occurrence, I did not think much about it until 
I got close by. I then noticed Mrs. McFee was unusually excited, 
she said she was glad I had come because she was afraid of this 
Indian and wished me to send him away. I told her she was 
perhaps alarmed without much cause, but at all events when I had 
got through washing my hands I would do as she requested. I had 
picked up the wash basin while she was telling me, and was not 
suspecting any trouble. I then turned to the Indian, whose name 
I afterwards learned was Bachinana, and told him to get off of 
the premises, but he did not seem to want to go, so I took him 
by the collar and gave him a push. He was now about six feet 
from the door of the house on the outside, and again he stood 
still without moving any further. I now noticed he had a knife 
in a sheath in front of him, and I was entirely unarmed, and things 
began to take on a serious aspect. The thought suggested itself 
to me of attempting to disarm the Indian, but at that time I did 
not know that he had been guilty of any misbehavior, and if I 
could succeed in getting him away, it would probably make less 
future trouble. So I gave him another push, and he now started 
briskly down the hill until he got about fifty feet away from me. 



A Pione;er History of Be;cker County. 291 

He then wheeled about and brought his gun to his shoulder. 
When he made the motion to turn around, I knew what to expect, 
and I knew also that it would not be of any use to try and get 
into the house or even to dodge around the corner, so I made a 
dash down hill towards him, intending that if his gun should miss 
fire or he should miss me, to take chances in a hand scuffle in 
which I thought the chances would be in my favor. This sudden, 
and to him unexpected movement on my part, seemed to confuse 
him some and I was about four feet from the muzzle of his gun. 
He turned half round to get away, when he fired, the charge of 
shot shattering my arm from nearly the wrist to the elbow, and a 
few scattering shots going into my side. The Indian ran away, 
and as far as I could see did not look back. I then returned to the 
house, Mrs. McFee was terribly frightened, and now told me for 
the first time how insolent and threatening the Indian had been. 
He had drawn his knife across her baby's throat while it was 
asleep, and terrified her in other ways. I was growing weaker 
from the loss of blood, and proposed going to Weymouth's house 
about three miles down the river to see if I could get something 
done for my arm ; but Mrs. McFee said if I left the place, the In- 
dian might come back and kill her ; so I suggested that she herself 
should go for her husband, who was in the opposite direction to 
which the Indian had gone, and get him to stay with her. This 
she did. I now found I was getting faint from loss of blood, and 
it was with some difficulty that I was able to stand. I tried to stop 
the blood by tying cloth bandages around my arm, but did not ap- 
pear to have any success. I then took a towel and bound it twice 
around my arm above the elbow, put in a stout stick and twisted 
it as much as I could bear. This appeared to have the desired 
eft'ect. I then locked the house door, and sat down on the floor, 
after getting my revolver in which I found there were two charg- 
es, and waited for McFee to come. If the Indian should come 
first, it was my intention to shoot him, if I could, when he enter- 
ed the house. McFee came as soon as he could, finding the door 
locked, he called to me and I told him to break in the door. I 
could not get up. He lost no time in going down to Weymouth's 
who sent up a team and some men. They lifted me into a wagon 
and took me to his place. It was months before I recovered, 
and when I did I was crippled for life ; although the arm was 
saved, it was with the loss of six inches of the radius bone, and 



292 A Pioneer History of Uecker County. 

otherwise so badly shattered that it has since been of Httle use 
to me. In closing this narrative, I will say that I was surprised 
at the kindness shown to nic at that time by those who had only 
known me for a few months at the most, and some not that long. 
It was done with so little display that it appeared to me that 
they did not want each other to know they were making any sac- 
rifices for my sake. 

James Winram. 

After shooting Winram, he took to the deep woods and was not 
seen about the settlements for several months, although efforts were 
being constantly put forth to secure his arrest. This, however, 
was not accomplished until March of the following year, when he 
was disposed of in a summary manner, as related further on by 
Patrick Quinlan, one of the parties to the tragedy. 



Bachinana Holds up Paul Sletten. 

Mrs. Luther Weymouth relates the following. 

Early in the summer of 1871 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company- 
was building its road through the township of Burlington. Paul C. Slet- 
ten was then foreman of a crew of men who were grading near the cross- 
ing of the Otter Tail River, and was boarding at the Weymouth hotel on 
the hill, a little south of the river. His family was then living on their 
homestead at Oak Lake, so Paul bought a pony of Bachinana to ride 
back and forth Saturday nights and Sundays to and from his home. When 
on one of his home trips, and while in the thick of the woods east of De- 
troit Lake, who should he meet in the road but Bachinana himself. He 
stood square in the middle of the road with a double barreled shotgun in 
his hands, both barrels of which were cocked, and ordered Paul to get off 
his horse. Paul was unarmed at the time and was not long in obeying 
orders. He dismounted, whereupon the Indian took off the saddle, threw 
it at Paul, mounted the pony and rode away. This was about the time he 
shot James Winram. and he was never seen again in the vicinity. 

AfDfr.ox. Minx., October. 16, 1905. 
Mk. W 1 1. cox: 

Mrs. Sletten says that she remembers well that Paul was held up by 
Indians and his horse taken, but she does not know so much about the 
details. 

As near as she remembers it occurred as follows: 

Paul had bought a saddle pony from some Indians at the railroad camp 
somewhere east of Detroit. He w-anted to use the pony on his trip back 
and forth between the camp and home. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 293 

Mr. Brackett. the contractor, had loaned him a saddle. 

On his way home through the Detroit woods after dark a band of 
Indians surrounded him, pulled him ofif his horse and took possession 
of the animal. They started to take the saddle ofT, but he protested that 
if they took the horse, they might as well keep the saddle too. 

They could not see any use in the saddle, so placed it on Sletten's 
shoulders and pointed up the road. 

There was nothing to do hv.t make the best of a bad situation, and he 
came home late at night with the saddle strapped to his back. 

A. O. Netland. 



The Shooting of Bachinana. 

By Patrick Quinlan. 

Some time abotit the middle of March, 1872, an Indian called 
at my house and said that Bachinana would pass by that even- 
ing on his way to Pine Lake, but expected that he would stay 
all night at the Indian camp down in the woods, west of Rice 
Lake. Later in the evening I saw an Indian pass over the rail- 
road bridge at Frazee and concluded it was Bachinana. As soon 
as I could I went to Hobart station to notify John Lisk, who had al- 
readv spent some time hunting for Bachinana but Lisk said, "It is 
dark and I am not sure that I would know him, I wish you would 
go with me." So I went with him and we called at Rogan's to 
get information as to where the Indian crossed Rice Lake. He 
said he knew, and taking his gun started with us. After going 
a short distance Rogan stopped and said he wanted to know if 
there was any fighting to be done, and Lisk said he thought there 
would be. After crossing Rice Lake and traveling about two 
miles west in the woods, we met two Indians. Rogan and Lisk 
being in advance of me they met the Indians first and laid hands 
on the first one, while the other one left the trail and seemed anx- 
ious to avoid us. I saw that his calcuiation was to circle and 
come into the trail behind me, therefore I stopped, because I 
concluded by his actions that he was the one we were after. The 
snow was very deep and he could not travel very fast. So when 
he was coming near the trail, I went back and laid hold of him. 
He had a gun, he said he had no whisky. I told him I wanted 
to know who he was. It was pretty dark and he had on a blanket 
cap which with the darkness prevented me from getting a good 
look at his face and he kept turning his face away from me. After 



294 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

a short struggle he became very angry, and said I must let him 
go. I told him, no, I must see who you are." After we had 
scuffled some time, Lisk came up behind me and grabbed the 
Indian on the shoulder and threw him backward full length on 
the snow. Rogan was behind me, and he shot the Indian as 
quick as he fell ; therefore I did not see it. I was sorry that he 
was killed the way he was though I was satisfied that he was a 
dangerous character. 

After his death he was buried on the narrow ridge between the 
Northern Pacific Railroad and the Otter Tail River, a little east 
of Frazee down towards the railroad bridge. He was buried by 
Thomas Murphy, in charge of the Northern Pacific gravel train. 
His grave is now nearly obliterated. Bill Rogan was arrested 
and given a hearing and held for trial, but was afterwards released 
under bonds. About the 25th of August, 1873, he was re-arrest- 
ed and lodged in jail at St. Paul. He afterward stood his trial 
at Fergus Falls and was acquitted. 



Irving John Collins. 

Irving John Collins came to Becker County May i8th, 1872, 
from Monroe County, New York. He was accompanied by his 
wife and son Henry, then only one and a half years old ; also David 
Wellman and his wife. After visiting for some time with Captain 
D. ly. Wellman, he took a soldier's homstead in the town of Burling- 
ton, Section 34, 138, 40. where he has lived continuously up to the 
present time. 

There were no bridges over the Otter Tail River and Collins 
used to ford the river. All business to and from the farm was 
done by ox team or on foot across the river, or by boat. The 
nearest depot was in Hobart Township, Otter Tail County. 

The first Sabbath school was organized in Captain Well- 
man's residence by Missionary Mason, and David Wellman was 
elected superintendent. The next summer it was removed to 
the upper room in Mr. Hendry's store, and was removed in 1874 
to Frazee into the little public schoolhouse standing on the 
ground now occupied by the palatial residence of Gotlieb Baer. 
Mr. Collins was superintendent ; Leonard Ashley, secretary ; and 
Robert Carson took an active part. About twenty was the regu- 
lar attendance. 




MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL PEARCE. 



296 A PioNEEr< History of Becker County. 

Mr. Collins discovered that liis land, overlooking the Otter 
Tail River, was rich in Indian lore, and some very rare treasures 
of Indian relics were found in the grounds, such as arrow heads, 
hammers, pieces of pottery and one extra large mound led to 
the belief that this was one of the old and famous Mound Build- 
er's cities or camping grounds. Xumerinis piles of cooking stones 
were foimd where he now has his home. 

In 1873-4 there was an Indian scare, and all the residents 
of the village congregated in one building in town. Leonard 
Ashley came over and implored ]Mr. Collins to come with his 
family into the barracks, but he thought he could defend him- 
self and family, and he kindly refused the invitation. 

The cause of the scare was a party of Sioux Indians going 
through to White Earth for a visit with the Chippewas. They 
went through Collin's farm passing the house on their prancing 
horses and decked in feathers and paint. They would jump 
off their ponies and with their scalping knives cut ofif the long 
grass as if they were scalping an enemy. 

Mr. Collins served his country as a soldier in Company I, 
Thirteenth New York Volunteer Infantry, and belongs to the 
Detroit Post. 

He is considered an expert farmer and machinist and owns 
one of the best farms near Frazec. I lis c(irn won a prize at the 
?t. Louis Exposition. 

He is an active Christian and a trustee and meiuber of the 
First Methodist Episcopal church. 

J. A. B. Smith. 

The fir.st bridge built across the Otter Tail River in this county 
was built in 1869 by Patrick Quinlan. It was built at the foot of 
the hill where the Perham road is now located, about ten rods south 
from where the new bridge across the Otter Tail River has since 
been built. The river then ran along the foot of the hill in what 
is now the old slough, all the way from the railroad to a point sev- 
eral rods west of the Perham road. After building this bridge he 
built a corduroy road along what was then the north side of the 
river to the long narrow ridge on the east side of the railroad ly- 
ing between the railroad and the river. When the railroad was 
built a year or two afterwards, they changed the bed of the river 
to its present location. 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 297 

The old Red River trail which had been the only thoroughfare 
through this part of the country for years, entered Becker County 
between the two lakes on Section 36, near where Herman Fisher 
now lives, passed by the Albertson place and crossed the Otter Tail 
River between where the lower dam and the bridge on the Silver- 
leaf road have since been built. There had never been any bridge 
across the river and the crossing was frequently attended with 
considerable difficulty, especially at the beginning of winter when 
ice was forming, so Ouinlan conceived the idea of building a cut- 
off road, bridging the river and charging toll for all travelers pass- 
ing over his bridge. After he had finished the bridge, he opened 
up a new road from a point on the Red River trail, a little south 
of where Thomas Keys in Otter Tail County has since lived. The 
road ran on the west side of the oak grove in Edward Brigg's 
field south of his house, and came down to the river at the foot of 
the hill exactly where the road enters the marsh at the present 
time. The old road is still to be seen where it came down the 
hill over in the timber west of the present road. 

This was about the time the Northern Pacific explorers and 
surveyors commenced traveling up and down the country, and 
while they were delighted at having a bridge to cross on there 
was a lot of kicking done when it came to paying toll. After 
having several quarrels and getting but little toll he dropped the 
whole business and never covered the bare poles on his corduroy 
v^-est of the river. The place where this bridge was built has 
since been nearly filled with sand and gravel washed down from 
the hill, although there is a small bridge there at the present time. 

When the railroad company changed the bed of the river they 
built a new wagon bridge a short distance below the railroad 
bridge and for many years all the travel from the south went 
around the horseshoe bend, along the foot of the railroad embank- 
ment. The road was changed to its present location in the winter 
of 1897 and 1898. 

The bridge across Town Lake was built in 1883, by Luther 
Weymouth, with a state appropriation of $600. 

The "Hodder" bridge across the Otter Tail, on Section 2, was 
built in 1886 by Rudolph Boll with money furnished by the town 
and county. The bridge across the Otter Tail below the lower dam 
was built in the summer of 1889 by R. L. Frazee with a state 
appropriation. 



298 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

On the 9th day of Aiii^ust, 1872, a petition was granted by the 
board of county commissioners to detach Township 138, Range 
40, from the township of Lake Mew and organize the same into a 
new township to be called Burlington. The township was so named 
from the city of Burlington in the state of \>rmont, by Airs. E. L. 
\\'right, a Vermonter, whose husband took a leading part in the 
organization of the township. 

The first township election was held on the 26th day of August 
of that year at the house of Wm. G. Chilton. 

The first set of township officers were : Chairman of board of 
supervisors, E. L. Wright ; supervisors, Charles E. Churchill and 
Patrick Quinlan ; clerk, James G. Chilton. Roscoe Dow was 
elected justice of the peace at this election, but did not qualify. 

At the annual town meeting in March, 1873, the supervisors 
elected were E. L. Wright, chairman ; Charles E Churchill and I. 
J. Collins, supervisors ; James Chilton, town clerk ; James Max- 
well, assessor. 



Arthur Crissy. 

In the winter of 1872-3, R. L. Frazee opened up his first lumber 
camp in Becker County, on Section 14, in the town of Erie. Among 
the men employed in his camp was a man named Arthur Crissy, a 
native of Maine, a man about thirty-five years of age, of robust 
constitution and perfect health and full of general good humor, and 
who prided himself on being the best ox teamster in Becker County. 

The exact date when he left Becker County I cannot give, but 
I found him at Bismarck in Dakota territor}^ in the fall of 1874. 

The next time I saw him was in the summer of 1878 in the same 
place where he kept a little candy and tobacco store. Since I had 
last seen him, he had lost both feet and was walking on his knees. 
He had met with a terrible misfortune in the spring of 1876, and I 
will endeavor to relate it as he told it to me as near as possible. 

A few miles below Bismarck is Sibley Island wdiich contains 
twenty or thirty acres of land. On the west side of the island is 
the Missouri River, and on the east side is a narrow channel about 
four rods wide, which is full of water, when the river is high, but 
most of the time it is nearly dry. 

I am quite familiar with this island, as we tied up our steamboat 
alongside of it over night in the spring of 1862, and in 1874 I 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 299 

surveyed it for the government. The river bottoms here extend 
east for four or five miles, on a dead level. 

Sibley Island at that time was covered with a heavy growth of 
Cottonwood timber, and in the winter of 1875-6, N. P. Clark, of 
St. Cloud, Minnesota, put in a wood camp on the island. This camp 
consisted of a log cabin for the men and two log stables for the 
oxen, of which they had twenty or thirty. With the disappearance 
of the snow in the spring the camp was broken up, but Crissy and 
two other men, one of which was named Kelly, were retained to 
take care of the oxen. They had not remained there many days 
before the ice in the river broke up and an ice gorge commenced 
to form a short distance below the island. In a day or two the water 
in the channel on the east side began to raise, and in a short time 
was up level with its banks. 

At this time they found they could have made their escape to 
the high ground, but they decided on account of the oxen to remain 
another day, confident that Clark or his agent at Bismarck would 
send orders for them to come away w^th the cattle before night. 
That night, however, the water rose rapidly and by the next morn- 
ing escape was impossible. They were driven out of their cabin 
and made their escape to the roof. The night before they had 
taken the precaution to turn out the oxen from their stables, and 
that day the oxen were all swimming around among the trees, and 
they were themselves on the top of the cabin, where they expected 
to remain in safety with their bedding and some provisions, until the 
the flood subsided. In this, however, they were disappointed. By 
the middle of the afternoon, the water was two feet deep on the roof 
of the cabin, where they were standing. They now commenced 
shouting for help. It was several miles to high land on their side 
of the river, so there was no hope of relief from that direction, but 
Fort Lincoln was on the opposite side of the river, and as it was 
afterwards discovered there were some soldiers within hearing dis- 
tance, but the gorge of ice made it impossible for them to cross the 
river. Their only hope now was to reach some of the cottonwood 
trees, the nearest of which was several rods away from the cabin. 
They had kept the upper part of their clothing dry, and the 
problem now was how to reach the trees without getting wet all 
over. It was not long, however, before the opportunity came. One 
of the oxen came swimming close to the cabin and Kelly mounted 



300 A I'loxKEK History oi- Heckhk County. 

it. wliicli took hini to a small tree that stood about twenty feet above 
the water. Soon afterwards another ox drifted by in close prox- 
imity to the cabin and Crissy and his com])anion were soon astride 
the ox, which they easily guided h) a good sized cottonwood tree 
with numerous limbs for climbing and seats, and they were soon 
out of reach of the flood. Night quickly set in, their provisions and 
bedding had all floated away and their wet clothing began to freeze. 
and their lower extremities were soon benuml)ed with the cold. 
They began to call for help in turns. Towards morning Kelly was 
heard to utter a cry of despair and almost instantly he relaxed his 
hold and fell into the water and was never seen or heard of again 
by his companions. This had a very depressing effect on Crissy's 
companion, wdio was sitting on the same limb of the tree with Crissy. 
It was not long before he too dropped from his seat, and in falling 
he caught Crissy by both ankles with his hands, clinging to them 
with a grip like that of a vise. Crissy was a large powerful man, 
but it was fully an hour before he could release himself from his 
companion's icy grasp. During all this time the man was insen- 
sible and his own strength was fast becoming exhausted. At last 
Crissy, by an almost superhuman effort, relaxed the man's grip, and 
he fell into the water and was seen and heard no more. Crissy 
having managed to keep some matches dry, lit his pipe and alter- 
nately smoked and shouted for help. The next day the sun warmed 
him u]) so that he was comparatively comfortable, but the second 
night was colder than before and his feet began to freeze. The 
second morning he felt as if he could hold out no longer, but the 
Sim arose and put new life into him and he determined to hold on 
another day if possible, and should no help coiue to give up the 
struggle for life. 

The third night set in colder than before. At dark a thin skim 
of ice commenced to form on the water. The icy coldness had now 
left his feet and legs and lu' felt drowsy. He was just on the 
point of falling asleep when the scnmd of human voices and the 
strokes of an oar fell upon his ears. Relief was at hand ! A boat 
manned by soldiers from Fort Lincoln had come to his rescue. He 
was lifted into the boat and taken across the river where he found 
that in attcm])ting to walk he was unable to stand on his feet. I le 
was taken to the hosi:)ital at the fort where he became delirious 
and kuew nolhii^ii' for more than a week. In the meantime his 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 301 

legs were amputated just below the knees. He managed to get 
around fairly well for many years and finally died at Bismarck in 
the winter of 1896-7. 



James Winram. 



James Winram was born on the Isle of Man, February i6th, 
1843. ^is parents moved that same year to Liverpool, where his 
boyhood days were spent until he was fourteen years of age, when 
in the year 1857 he shipped on board a sailing vessel bound for 
Calcutta, going by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. Upon his 
return from this voyage he made a voyage to Australia, after which 
he made four more voyages to India and China. These voyages 
took about five years of his life in all, and the strange sights that 
he saw, and the many adventures which he can relate would almost 
rival the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. 



A Stabbing Affray. 

On the 2d of May, 1874, Sol. Wells stabbed Bill McDonald at 
Webb's cabin. After nearly cutting ofif his thumb, he stabbed him 
in the thigh and in his back, inflicting serious but not fatal wounds. 
Old Sol. was a wild-eyed son of Erin who homesteaded the land 
on Section 18, where the village of McHugh has since been built. 
He was killed by the cars near his own home some time about the 
year 1888. 

An old chum and countryman of his by the name of "Billy" 
Lamb homesteaded the southwest quarter of Section 18. 



August Trieglaff, Sr. 

August Trieglafl^. Sr.. was born in Falkenberg, Germany, on the 
15th day of August, 1831. 

He came to America in the spring of 1870 and to Becker 
County about the first of June, 1871. and took a homestead on 
Section 24, where he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. Trieglafif 
was comparatively a poor man when he came to this country, but 
l:»v untiring industry and rigid economy, he became one of the 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 303 

prosperous men of Becker County. He was a man of sound business 
judgment, decided in character and strictly upright and honest in 
all his transactions with his fellow men. 

Mr. Trieglaff died on the 25th day of June, 1897, leaving his 
wife and five sons and two daughters to survive him. The sons 
are William Trieglafif, August Trieglaff, Carl Trieglaff, Robert 
Trieglaff and Albert Trieglafif. The daughters are Mrs. Joseph 
Frick and Mrs. Michael Warter. 



Wm. G. Chilton. 
By George E. Tindall. 

William G. Chilton was born on a farm near Kingston, Ontario, 
Feb. 1 2th, 1846. 

He became a sailor at the age of seventeen and continued as such 
upon the inland lakes and rivers for six summers, after which he left 
in company with a friend, Wm. Redpath, for the distant West reach- 
ing Minnesota in 1870. From Little Sauk near St. Cloud their 
journey was by ox team there being no railroad west of that place 
at that time. He settled in Becker County and filed on the land 
that now forms the homestead upon which he built one of the first 
houses in the county. He also assisted in the construction of the 
first sawmill erected in these parts, on the Otter Tail River, and 
afterwards sold it to R. L. Frazee. It was most interesting to 
listen to a recital of his adventures with the Indians, "perils by 
sea," narrow escapes in blizzards, experiences in privations, and 
other hardships incident to a pioneer's life, all of which contributed 
to make him the man he was in courage and enduring power. 

At the age of twenty-nine he visited his old home in the East and 
was happily married to Miss Katherine Rutledge, and as a result of 
this union there were born unto them four children, Addia, Mabel, 
John and Almena, all of whom lived to mourn the loss of their 
mother in May, 1883. 

His second wife was Mrs. Ellen Moulthrope, of Detroit, by 
whom seven children were born, five of which are still living; 
namely : Timothy, Ella, Katie, Howard and Gordon. 

Mr. Chilton died on the 26th day of August, 1902. Three 
brothers and four sisters survive him, namely : James, Timothy 
and John, and IMrs. John Gummer, Mrs. Patrick O'Neil and Mrs. 



304 A PiONKER History of Bi'X'kkr Couxtv. 

Scott, all of whom live in this vicinity, and Airs. Charles Camjjhel 
of Redlands. California. 
Mrs. West. 



Samuel Pearce. 



Samuel Pearce was born at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England, on 
the fifth day of April, 1832, and was married to Miss Elizabeth 
Warr on the first day of December, i860. 

They were the parents of eight children, all of whom are still 
living. Their names are as follows : Thomas Pearce. ]\Irs. Eliza- 
beth Morse, William Pearce, Samuel Pearce, Mrs. Angelena Gifford, 
Robert Pearce, Charles Pearce, Flossie Pearce. 

About the middle of March, 1873, Mr. Pearce. accom]:)auie(l by 
Thomas, his oldest son, left his home in England in company with 
about one hundred and fifty other people comprising what was called 
the Yeoville Colony, destined for Hawle}-. Clay County, Minnesota. 
They arrived at their destination on the 13th of April. Xot taking 
a fancy to the bleak prairies of Clay County, at the close of a hard 
winter, and as he was well pleased with what he saw of Becker the 
day before while passing through, he came back to Frazee on foot 
the next day and afterwards took a homestead on Section 2, of 
the township of Burlington, where he resided until the time of 
his death. The family came a year or two later ; as soon as he 
was able to work and earn money to pay their passage. In addition 
to his original homestead he added over 200 acres more to his farm, 
making it one of the finest and best cultivated in Burlington Town- 
ship. Mrs. Pearce and her son Charles are still living on the old 
homestead. 

Mr. Pearce died on the first day of December. 1901. 



Brutal Murder Near McHugh. 

In Fall of 1905. 

A most horrible discovery was made yesterday afternoon by Bert 
Morton, a boy living near AIcHugh, four miles east of Detroit. While 
out rabbit hunting the boy discovered a peculiar trail through the brush. 
His curiosity excited, he followed it up, and found that it led to a brush 
pile in a near-by swamp, and that under the brush heap lay the dead body 
of a man. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 305 

Word was sent to the sheriff, who in company with County Attorney 
Schroeder, Marshal Bert Clement, Dr. Frasier and Marshal John Hurley, 
of Frazee, visited the place last night. They found the body, but were 
unable to identify it. In the absence of the coroner from the county the 
body was brought to Detroit at an early hour this morning. 

The man evidently was a Finlander, and a harvest hand on his way 
home from Dakota. Apparently a shotgun had been placed close to the 
man's head and fired, as the head was horribly mutilated. 

After the shooting the body had been dragged feet first by a horse, 
from the scene of the crime to the hiding place. This was plainly apparent 
from the trail that was left, and also from the condition of the body. 

A letter was found upon the body, but so saturated with blood that 
it was hardly legible. A portion of the address upon the envelope ap- 
pears to be L. R. Satzwedel, Leonard, N. Dak. The letter is written in 
Finnish. 

The murdered man was apparently of that nationality and about 20 
to 25 years old. His hat, coat and shoes were missing. He wore a navy 
blue shirt; blue overalls; a neck muffler and chest protector, striped red 
and black. In his pocket was found a steel handled knife upon the side 
of which were the words "Easy Opener." — Detroit Record. 

A Finlander by the name of Charles Huotari was convicted of 
this fotil crime at the March term of court, 1906, and sent to the 
penitentiary for hfe. The name of the murdered man was Jacob 
Paakkonen. 



Village of Frazee. 

For nearly three years after the Northern Pacific Railroad was 
built, the nearest station was at Hobert, a long mile on the other 
side by the Otter Tail River. 

In the summer of 1872 a company consisting of Absalom Camp- 
bell, Charles ^L Campbell, William G. Chilton and T. W. Chilton 
built a dam and sawmill on Section 26, near where the Nichols, 
Chisholm Lumber Company's sawmill is now located. After oper- 
ating their mill for a few months they sold the property to R. L. 
Frazee. As soon as Frazee had secured this valuable mill site he 
made a purchase of all the land on Section 35, lying west and north 
of the river, and proceeded to lay out a townsite on the north side 
of the railroad, including a part of Sections 26 and 35. The sur- 
vey of this townsite was made in the summer of 1873 by W. C. 
Darling. He next began to negotiate with the railroad company for 
the removal of the depot from Hobart, and as an inducement in that 



3o6 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



direction, he gave them half the lots in his new townsite. The re- 
moval was gradually accomplished, the depot building not being 
brought over until some time after a temporary station had been estab- 
lished at the new townsite. Finally, on the 25th day of October, 




HON. R. L. FRAZEE. 



1874, the depot building was loaded on two flat cars and brought 
across the river and dumped off at the new station on the north side 
of the track. 

Thomas Murphy, now of Sanborn, North Dakota, claims the 
honor of being in charge of the removal. In the spring of 1873 Mr. 
Frazee enlarged the Chilton sawmill and in the fall of the same 
year built a flour mill adjoining his sawmill, and both mills did a 
flourishing business for many years. In the spring of 1874 an ugly 
hole was cut in his mill dam by the high water in the river and it 
was with considerable difficulty that it was finally repaired. A 
lot of his saw-logs floated off down the river and were sold to 
parties below. 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 307 

In 1 88 1 he built the big, new dam at the east end of Front 
Street and moved both mills down to the new dam that same 
fall. The flour mill, however, was considerably enlarged and when 
completed was the finest flour mill in northern Minnesota. These 
mills both burned down on the 14th day of October, 1889. The 
cost of these mills, dam included, was about $60,000, and were 
insured for $15,000. 

In the spring of 1890 he sold all his mill property to A. H. 
Wilcox, who repaired the dam and rebuilt the sawmill on the old 
foundations that same year. He carried on the manufacture of 
lumber until January, 1897, when he sold out to the Common- 
wealth Lumber Company, who built a new steam sawmill on an 
extensive scale near where the Campbell mill was built in 1872. 
This mill, however, is outside the village but close up to the hne. 

The first house in the village of Frazee was built by James G. 
Chilton on the rear of what are now lots 11 and 12, block 14, where 
Chris. Johnson had a laundry a few years ago. This house was 
built in the summer of 1872 of lumber sawed at the Campbell sawmill. 

In the fall of 1873 S. M. Thompkins came down from Oak Lake 
and built what is now known as the Frazee Hotel or Briggs' House. 
This hotel was opened up for business about the first of December, 
1873. The next October Luther Weymouth moved his hotel over 
from Hobert and set it up on the south side of the railroad a little east 
of where the passenger depot now stands. Some of the passenger 
trains stopped regularly at the Weymouth House for meals, Mrs. 
Weymouth was a very popular landlady in those days. Her meals 
were the subject of much flattering comment far and wide. The 
box-elder and the willow trees growing there at the present time 
were planted in the rear of the new hotel by Mrs. Weymouth herself. 
This new hotel hurt the business of the Thompkins' house to a 
serious extent. As an inducement to draw railroad passengers 
to his house Thompkins built a broad, high walk from the depot 
in a straight line to his hotel, over the big hole where Baer's block 
and the Windsor Hotel now stand. One of the first buildings 
erected — as I remember, was the one now owned by Dr. S. S. Jones 
and used by him as a drug store. It was built by a little Jew 
whose name I have forgotten, in 1873, for a dry goods store. 

The Cummer flour mill was brought up from New York Mills 
on the 9th of August, 1898, and rebuilt at the lower dam, where 



3o8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

it did service until the 3rd of June, 1903, when it was totally 
wrecked by the washing away of the west end of the dam. 

In the summer of 1904 the Stelzner flour mill was built by Mr. 
C. J. Stelzner, who soon afterwards sold a half interest to James 
Scott. Leonard Ashley was the first station agent at Frazee. 

In the fall of the year 1898 the railroad company moved the 
passenger depot from the north side of the track, in the rear of 
Baer's brick block, to the south side near where it now stands, and 
since that time have used the old side track on the south side of the 
main line of the railroad for the main line. The building was 
moved by Charles Wagner, of Detroit. 

It should ever be born in mind, however, that much of the real 
estate in Frazee is bounded, and the descriptions start from the 
center of the main line of the railroad, and that the original main 
line is the third track north from the passenger depot since the 
double track was laid, or the track that runs next to the freight depot, 
being the most northerly of the three tracks between the two depots. 



Incorporation of the Village of Frazee. 

On the sixth day of January, 1891, the board of county com- 
missioners of Becker County adopted the following resolution : 

Resolved; on receiving and reading the petition of A. H. Wilcox and 
thirty-four others, residents upon the lands and premises in said petition 
described, praying that a time and place be appointed when and where 
the electors actually resident upon said described premises, may vote for 
or against the incorporation of said premises, and said petition being in 
due form, it is further resolved, that the electors, resident on said premises 
shall meet at the Briggs Hotel on said premises on the loth day of 
February, A. D. 1891, at 10 o'clock, a. m., and that Edward Gummer, 
George Combs, and W. Baer are hereby appointed to act as inspectors at 
said meeting, and that copies of said petition and notices of said meeting 
be posted as provided by law. 

The proposition to incorporate the village received nearly a 
unanimous vote and the first election of officers was held at Baer's 
store on the loth of March, 1891, when the following officers were 
elected : President, A. H. Wilcox ; trustees, William Baer, 
Clement Mayer and Robert Alexander; village, recorder, John 
Briggs; treasurer, John S. Comstock ; justices of the peace, John 



A PioNjjiiR History of BiiCKER County. 309 

Neuner and Lewis D. Hendry ; constables, John D. Clary and 
Arnold Kohnen. 

The incorporation took in the following territory : The south 
half of the southwest quarter of Section 26 and all of Section 35, 
Township 138, Range 40, except the south tier of forties and the 
west tier of forties. 



Hon. R. L. Frazee. 

Randolph L. Frazee, for whom the village of Frazee was named, 
was born at Hamden Junction, Vinton County, ( )hio, on the 3rd day 
of July, 1841, and came to Minnesota in September, 1866, locating 
first ten miles north of St. Cloud. In the fall of 1868 he removed to 
Otter Tail City where he built a sawmill and flour mill which he 
operated until the spring of 1872, when he built a side track and saw- 
mill where Xew York ^lills station is now located. This place was 
then called Frazee's Mills. He sold out here in the fall of 1872 and 
bought the Campbell-Chilton mill at Frazee. 

A history of his milling operations has already been given in 
the history of Frazee Village, so I will pass them over. In the 
fall of 1873 he built for his first residence the house in block 2 
of his first addition, which stands just a little west of where L. D. 
Hendry now resides. That same fall he erected a building on 
Front Street, since known as the Louck's Hotel, which he used as 
a store for the next four years. That same fall, 1873, he built 
a warehouse on the north side of the railroad track which he used 
also for an ofiice and in 1876 added a large store building to it, 
which was about 24 by 80 feet in extent ; the same building that was 
used for many years as a store by Baer Brothers. In the fall of 
1874, says Mr. Frazee, "I graded a sidetrack alongside of my 
w^arehouse and furnished ties for the rails, and then prevailed on 
C. W. Mead, the general manager of the Northern Pacific Railway 
Company, to move the depot over from Hobert. There were strong 
objections to the removal made by the Lake Superior and Puget 
Sound Townsite Company, who owned the townsite at Hobert, and 
also by David Wellman, who had just recently surveyed out an addi- 
tion thereto ; but Mr. Mead told me to keep quiet until they had sub- 
sided somewhat, and that he would send a crew some evening and 



3IO A Pioneer History of JJkckek Couxtv. 

make quick work of the removal. The crew came up on Saturday 
evening and by Sunday night the depot was at Frazee, safe and 
sound." 

Mr. Frazee represented Becker County in the ^Minnesota legis- 
lature during the session of 1875, and in 1883 was the Democratic 
candidate for lieutenant governor running considerably ahead of his 
ticket, but was defeated by Charles A. Gilman, of St. Cloud. 

In 1890 Mr. Frazee removed to Pelican Rapids in Otter Tail 
County, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred 
on the 4th day of June, 1906. 

He was one of the wealthiest men in northwestern Minnesota, 
but although usually fortunate and properous in business matters 
his business pathway was not always a smooth one. 

Mrs. Frazee and four sons and two daughters survive him. They 
are Charles, William, Harry, Clifford, Mrs. May McArdle and ]\Iiss 
Cora Frazee. 



Luther Weymouth. 

Luther Weymouth was born in the town of Abbot. Maine, on 
the 15th day of October, 1833. On the i6th day of June, 1855, he 
was married at Stillwater, Maine, to Miss Abbie C. Porter, who 
was born at Fredrickton, New Brunswick, on the 31st of Septem- 
ber, 1838. 

In September, 1858, Mr. Weymouth started for California, going 
by way of the Isthmus of Panama and located at Mariposa. Here 
he opened a boarding house, housing and feeding eighty-eight men 
who were in the employ of General John C. Fremont, who, two 
years before, had been the Republican candidate for president of 
the United States. About once a week he had for a guest at his 
table, a lady who was at that time the most popular woman in the 
free states, and the idol of the Republicans of the whole land, Mrs. 
Jessie Benton Fremont, wife of General Fremont, and daughter 
of Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri. Mrs. Fremont always 
came on horseback accompanied by her daughter. 

General Fremont was at that time the proprietor of the famous 
Mariposa Spanish land grant, a tract of land as large as an ordinary 
county. 

Weymouth returned to Maine after an absence of nearly three 
years with several thousand dollars in gold. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 311 

For several years after his return he was engaged as steward 
on a steamboat plying on the Penobscot River between Old Town 
and Lincoln. 

He came to Becker County on the loth of December, 1870, and 
that same w^inter built a hotel on the brow of the hill on the south 
side of the river near where Mrs. Martin now lives. He afterwards 
opened up a hotel at Hobart where the Northern Pacific station was 
located, but when the station was moved to Frazee, Weymouth came 
with it and brought his hotel with him, building and all, on the cars. 

His hotel was re-established a few rods east of where the passen- 
ger depot now stands, where he and Mrs. Weymouth did a thriving 
business for several years. 

Mr. Weymouth was the first postmaster at Frazee, bringing the 
office with him from Hobart. 

For several years he was justice of the peace for the town of 
Burlington and many stories were in circulation years ago, relating 
to his short-handed methods of administering justice and his utter 
disregard for red tape. 

On one occasion a woman came in from the country and com- 
plained that her husband had been pounding her, and asked to have 
a warrant issued for his arrest. The warrant was issued but they 
could not find the constable. He had gone from home. Weymouth, 
however, could not allow so trifling an obstacle as that to stand in 
the way of the administration of justice, so he took the warrant 
and served it himself, arresting and bringing the offender to town 
in his own conveyance. He gave him a speedy trial, with no other 
witness than his wife, found him guilty of assault, fined the prisoner 
ten dollars, which he promptly paid. Weymouth then handed the 
ten dollars over to the offender's wife, who went home rejoicing, 
highly pleased with Judge Weymouth's method of conducting court, 
and dealing with wife beaters. 

Mr. Weymouth died on the 26th day of August, 1885. 



Leonard Ashley. 

Leonard Ashley, the first depot agent at Frazee, was born in 
the town of Wilton, Saratoga County, New York, on September 
25th, 1845. 

His father was of English and Irish descent and his mother was 
Scotch. His parents afterwards moved to Groton, New York, where 



312 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

he received an academic education. He learned telegraphy and 
went west with his brother as far as the Rocky Mountains, working 
at different places, but finally came back as far as Hobart, as the 
station was then called, and became the first ticket agent at that 
place, and when the depot building was moved over to Frazee in 
1874, he came with it and so became the first agent at Frazee, which 
position he occupied until the time of his death. He also held the 
ofiice of town clerk during all his residence at Frazee. 

He was married on (3ctober 8th, 1874. to i\Iiss Thomsena Hed- 
den of Garden City, New York. 

Mr. Ashley died at his home in Frazee on the 31st of March, 
1882, survived by his wife who died several years later. They were 
the parents of Misses Jessie and Agnes and Paul Ashley. 

Jessie Ashley. 



The First Newspaper in Frazee. 

The first newspaper in Frazee was printed on the 23rd day of 
December, 1896. The name of the paper at that time was the Park 
Region, and the editor was A. Delacy Wood. 

I here insert a part of his salutatory opening, and also a few items 
from the first number of the paper : 

TO THE PUBLIC. 

We shall dispense with the customary lengthy salutatory and make a 
brief, plain statement of the mission and platform of the Frazee Park Reg- 
ion. This journal has been established as a purely legitimate business en- 
terprise, the material having been bought by the proprietor for that purpose, 
there being no obligation, mortgage or political debt to meet. We have faith 
in the future of Frazee, and this rich region of northern Minnesota, with 
its sparkling lakes, musical streams and great natural advantages, and shall 
do all in our power to aid in the work of progress and development. 
The Park Region has not been started as a boom sheet or political jour- 
nal but is here to zealously advocate and defend the best interests of our 
village and county. 

In politics the Park Region will be independent, free from bias, not 
bigoted or narrow-minded — and will, at all times, evince a spirit of re- 
spect and consideration for those friends and contemporaries who may 
honestly differ with us on the great national issues of the day. Local 
and county matters, however, will receive special attention at our hands. 
Suffice it to say, the Park Region will endeavor to be a journal of local 
advocacy and general news, and we ask for the hearty co-operation of 
all our citizens, irrespective of political affiliations. The Park Region 
will always endeavor to stand loyally for justice and right. 

A. De Lacy Wood. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 313 

OUR THRIVING VILLAGE. 

Frazee is now assuming proportions that justify the claim of its orig- 
inal founder, Hon. R. L. Frazee, that it is destined to be one of leading 
towns in northern Minnesota. This thriving village contains a population 
of about 400, and is pleasantly situated on the Otter Tail River and on 
the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 200 miles from St. Paul 
and 55 miles from Fargo, and is located in the midst of the famous 
picturesque Park Region of Minnesota which has brought forth glowing 
words of praise from the leading descriptive writers of the country. 

Fifteen beautiful lakes are situated within live miles of this place, all 
abounding with fish, consisting of bass, pickerel, pike and rock bass. 
With the sparkling waves and healthful breezes of these fine lakes, with 
the primeval forest rising grandly in proximity, there is scarcely a prettier 
or more romantic region in the North Star State, — a region, greatly 
favored by the generous hand of nature, that would beggar description 
from the most graphic pen. This point is bound to become a popular 
summer resort just as soon as its advantages are known abroad. 

This place has been incorporated about six years and ]Mr. A. H. Wilcox 
has been president of the council since that time with the exception 
of one term, which ofificial preferment is certainly a handsome recognition 
of his sterling worth as a citizen, business man and neighbor. A number 
of public improvements are contemplated the coming year. 

Many lumbermen do not seem to realize the great pine forests tribu- 
tary to Frazee that can be easily floated down the Otter Tail River. 

Those who have thoroughly investigated this district are loud in their 
praises of the quality and quantity of the timber that is standing, waiting 
to be cut and floated down from the White Earth region to the big mill 
that will soon be located at Frazee. It is roughly estimated that there is 
over 200,000,000 feet of choice pine directly tributary to this rising young 
city. 

Frazee is surrounded by a rich farming section, which is thickly 
settled by a thrifty class of farmers, most of whom do their trading here. 

In all probability a large flouring mill will be erected here, while 
electric lights, water works and factories are among the possibilities of 
this flourishing section of the justly famous Park Region of the Golden 
Northwest. May the brightest hopes of our citizens be fully realized. 

It is rumored that Baer Bros., our enterprising merchants, intend to 
erect a large brick store building next spring on their fine corner lot. 

A. H. Wilcox has leased his sawmill here for one year to Minneapolis 
parties with privilege of buying. 

The Northern Pacific Railway completed its many improvements in 
the vicinity of Frazee for i8g6 by constructing a three-span iron bridge 
across the Otter Tail River here. The bridge was placed in position IMon- 
day. 

State Bank of Frazee — Organized Jttly ist, 1897. 

First ofificers : Charles W. Higley, president ; A. H. Wilcox, 
vice president ; L. W. Oberhauser, cashier. 



314 -^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Converted into the First National Bank of Frazee on Nov. 2, 
1903. A. H. Wilcox, president ; T. R. Daniel, vice president ; L. 
W. Oberhauser, cashier 

Baer Brothers brick block was built in the summer of 1898, and 
L. D. Hendry's block was built the same year. 



Captain D. L. Wellman. 




CAPT. D. L. WELLMAN. 



Captain D. L. Wellman is a veteran of the Civil War and the 
originator of the celebrated Wellman Saskatchewan Fife wheat, 
which at one time sold as high as ten dollars a bushel. 

Senator Nelson once told me that he did his thinking and dream- 
ing in the Norwegian language, but that when it came to talking 
business he preferred the "King's English." 

Capt. Wellman does some of his thinking and all his sleeping and 
dreaming and eating in Otter Tail County, but when it comes to 
talking and transacting business, he prefers Becker County for his 
field of operations. For the last thirty-six years he has been con- 
sidered the link that binds the two counties together, but not the 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 315 

"missing link," for he has never been missing on a single occasion 
during all that period of time. 

Although the captain is an Otter Tail County man by resi- 
dence and force of circumstances, he is a Becker County man by 
choice and long continued hal)it. and is therefore clearly entitled 
to a place among us. 

Since the above was written, and on Feb. 21, 1907, Capt. Wellman 
died suddenlv, at his home near Frazee. 



Chapter XXL 

HISTORY OF DETROIT TOWNSHIP. 

By Mrs. Jessie C. West. 
The following interesting account of the first settlement of De- 
troit Township is from the pen of Henry Way, nov^ of Osage, who 
was one of the pioneer party : 

In 1865 a colony composed of sixteen families left Iowa and arrived 
in Otter Tail County, July 31, 1865. There were no white settlements in 
that county at that time. We settled at Battle Lake, remaining there three 
years. From Otter Tail Lake to Dayton, over that vast expanse of country 
now covered with cities and towns and past where Fergus Falls now 
stands, there was not a white settler nor a house. As I was a farmer by 
occupation I desired to find a good range for stock where there was an 
abundance of grass, good water and some timber. Having been informed 
by the Indians and half-breeds of the immense cattle range north, five of 
us started out in search of it. We came past what became Otter Tail City, 
then occupied by some mixed bloods. We forded the Otter Tail River 
three times, which brought us to the present location of Frazee City, where 
we found a man named Butler, who claimed that the land was all taken 
by script, and who told us it was still fourteen miles to the "land of promise." 

We camped there that night, he promising to go with us the next 
day and show us the land, rich with strawberries, and only waiting for the 
cows to come to have them with cream. We reached Oak Lake, June 28, 
1868, and were so well pleased with the country that we took our claims 
without getting out of the wagon. L. D. Sperry, A. W. Sherman and 
myself each took a claim at Oak Lake, Mr. Sherman taking the one which 
was since the county poor farm. We at once commenced improvements — 
that is, we started foundations for our houses and left them for the buz- 
zards to roost on and hold our claims until we returned. We then re- 
turned to our families in Otter Tail County. Mr. Sherman came back 
and built a house and put up hay; I also built my house and the next 
spring came with my family. When we were at Battle Lake we had to 
go to Cold Springs, nine miles this side of St. Cloud, for our flour, and 
to Sauk Center for our groceries and all things used by farmers. This 




AI.MON W . SHKKMAN. 



HENRY WAY. 





C. A. SHERMAN. 



MR. AND MRS. CLAVTO.N GOULD. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 317 

was 108 miles, and took us from eight to ten days to make a trip. After- 
we arrived in Becker County we did all our trading and milling at Alex- 
andria, distant 100 miles. My friends, think of it; what would you think 
of starting out with an ox team, 100 miles, for a box of matches or a pound 
of tea? Why, I think you would say, "Give me the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road to make the trip with." 

Mr. Sherman was on his farm during the winter of '68, and during 
my absence they got out of provisions; Paul Beaulieu. of White Earth, 
called, and, learning their situation and sympathyzing with them, promised 
them a sack of flour before the setting of another sun; and he was as good 
as his word. All traffic was carried on then with dog sleds, and our mail 
(what we had), was sent from Otter Tail City by the hand of some Indian. 

In the spring of 1869 a party of men in the employ of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Company came through from St. Cloud. They came with 
supplies, and made my place their headquarters. At that time it seemed 
almost impossible for a railroad to be built through a country without 
inhabitants. During the summer of 1870 we were surprised to see the 
emigration that was coming in. In the year of i86g we were surprised 
to see a train of buggies and wagons coming into our neighborhood. There 
were fifteen of them and they called at my place and wanted to buy a 
sheep. We sold them one, and one of the men informed me they were 
looking for a place to locate a railroad. This man was Mr. Eugene Wilson, 
of Minneapolis. There was also Rev. Mr. Lord, of New York City, who 
invited us to come to their camp at 10 o'clock a. m.. as he would hold 
a meeting. We went, and listened to a good sermon. Then we had 
dinner with them, it being Sunday they did not travel. Gov. Smith, of 
Vermont, was then president of the company; there were senators and 
ex-senators from other states, and physicians for soul and body, and also 
Carleton Coffin, the great newspaper correspondent, who justly entitled 
this the Park Region. 

Mrs. West. Henry Way. 

The place that Mr. Way selected for his homestead was at the 
north end of Oak Lake, on the southeast quarter of Section 7. 
In 1870 he sold his improvements to Mrs. Barbara Stillman, after 
which he located on Section 20 in what is now Audubon Town- 
ship. L. D. Sperry lived there much of the time during the early 
seventies, and Elias Nason lived there in 1885. It now belongs to 
J. Isaacson. 

Almon W. Sherman located on the west shore of Oak Lake, on 
the place that afterwards became the poor farm, and is now (1905), 
the residence of L. O. Ramsted. 

L. D. Sperry selected for his homestead, a place on the west 
shore of the lake in the northwest quarter of Section 7. After 
living there for a year or two he rented his house to a man by the 
name of Sterling, and the first store ever opened up in Becker 




MRS. NELLIE BOWKER. ARRA J. BOWKER. 

MRS. LOIS CUTLER. 
MRS. JANE WAY. MRS. LOIS H. SHERMAN. 

Five generations of the first white women who settled in Becker County. 



A Pioneer History of Beckej^ County. 319 

County, to trade with white people was begun in this house, Sperry 
hving in the meantime on his mother-in-law's place (Mrs. Still- 
man's), at Oak Lake. 

The old White Earth and Red River trail passed close to both 
these houses. Byron Wheeler since owned this place, and lived there 
for several years, in the same house where the store was kept. 

About the middle of December, 1870, Jedediah Anderson started 
a small store in a vacant house belonging to Mrs. Sherman on Sec- 
tion 18. close to the west shore of Oak Lake, in Detroit Township, 
and two or three days later another store was opened up by S. B. 
Pinney, with Ole A. Boe for clerk, in another vacant house belong- 




JOHN O. FRENCH. 

ing to Mrs. Sherman, so by the beginning of the year 1871 there were 
three full fledged stores running full blast, in what is now Detroit 
Township. 

C. A. Sherman or Alma Sherman as he was usually called, took 
for his claim the east half of the northwest quarter, and the west 
half of the northeast quarter of Section 19. 

Samuel J. Fox located on Section 15 where John O. French 
now resides, but the time of his location is uncertain. French savs 



320 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

that he was Hving' there when the Northern Pacific Railroad survey- 
ors camped at Floyd Lake in August, 1869, but he is not sure whether 
he had a liousc or not. He also says that he saw Max N'annose and 
Leon Vannose there at Floyd Lake also, but saw no houses. As 
all three of these men were living- with Chippewa women, the 
probability is that they were all living in wigwams, prior to the 
summer of 1870. At any rate, Henry Way is confident that none 
of them wintered there during the winter of 1869 and 1870. All 
three of them, however, had good log houses in the summer of 
1870. The Vannoses both built their houses near the southwest 
corner of Floyd Lake, on Section Sixteen. 

In the meantime John ( ). French settled upon and commenced 
a residence on the farm at Floyd Lake, in the summer of 1870 
where he has lived ever since. 

Melvin ]\L Tyler located on the northwest quarter of the nortli- 
west quarter of Section 34 on the 28th day of July. 1870, and built 
the first section of what was afterwards enlarged and became the 
Tyler Hotel, that stood for so many vears on the north side of the 
railroad, near the Pelican River. 

About the first of September Archibald Mc Arthur took a claim 
on the north shore of Detroit Lake, on Section 35, where the 
little prairie comes down to the lake a little east of the Pelican 
River. 

The next settler was Deacon Samuel P. Childs, who came from 
Alexandria and selected the southwest quarter of Section 2^, on the 
30th day of September, 1870. ^Ivs. Childs and the rest of the family 
came on the 22(\ of May, 1871. 

William W. Rossman located on the east half of the northwest 
quarter of Section 34, which afterwards became the Holmes Addition 
to Detroit, sometime in ( )ctober 1870. He had been living for several 
months in Lake Eunice, being one of the three first settlers in that 
township. This land is now right in the midst of the village, and 
takes in the Holmes school building. 

Many of the early settlers will probably remember Michael 
Dalton, who lived for several years on what was since the C. P. 
Bailey farm; the northeast quarter of Section 32. Dalton located 
on this place in October, 1870, and Clarence McCarthy settled on 
the southeast quarter of Section 32 at the same time. Late in the 
fall of this year, Samuel J. Fox took the west half of the southeast 
quarter and the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 34, 





COL. GEORGE H. JOHNSTON. 



¥. B. CHAPIN. 




FKANK A. JO-iNSON. 
1- irst Depot Agent. 



FRANK I IM MMF.TT. 
First while bov born in Detro't. 



2)22 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

and built a house on what is since known as the Fox Hill. A large 
part of the village of Detroit is now built on the old Fox property, 
including the Frazee and Holmes Addition and the Holmes Second 
Addition, taking in the Hotel Minnesota and the court house. 

In November, 1870, I selected the northwest quarter of Section 
6 for a homestead, but did not make any improvements until late 
in January, 187 1, at which time I built a log house, and Andrew' 
Tong built a house on the northeast quarter of Section 6 that same 
winter. 

Josiah Richardson took the northwest quarter of Section 22, 
some time in the summer or fall of 1870. 

Charles Tyler I think located on the south tier of forties of Sec- 
tion 26, since known as the Brook's farm, in the fall of 1870. 

These were about all the settlers in Detroit Township before the 
advent of the New England Colony in the spring of 1871. 



History of the New England Colony. 

Mr. Thomas J. Martin of Lake Eunice gives the following ac- 
count of the origin of the New England Colony : 

At the close of the Civil War, Congress passed a law giving to every 
soldier, sailor and marine 160 acres of land, which could be taken under 
the homestead act. In 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company 
commenced to build its road through Minnesota, and in the winter of 1870 
and '71 Charles Carleton Coffin, war correspondent and reporter for the 
Boston Journal, who in 1869 had accompanied a party of Northern Pacific 
officials and engineers over the proposed route in northwestern Minne- 
sota, gave a series of lectures in Boston, which were listened to by large 
audiences and were published by all the prominent newspapers of the day. 
The result of the land grant and these lectures was the holding of a large 
meeting in Boston in the spring of 1871 and an association was formed, 
known as the Gale Association of Ex-Soldiers and Sailors. 

Mr. Coffin was present at these meetings, and vividly pictured out 
the possibilities of the Northwest. Committees were appointed to visit 
the different states where government lands could be obtained, and Frank 
B. Chapin, Calvin K. Day, William H. H. Howe, Thomas J. Martin and 
Sanderson were appointed a committee to visit Minnesota. 

Sanderson, Day and Chapin came to St. Cloud and there purchased a 
lumber wagon and came the rest of the way with their team. Mr. Day 
was accompanied by his wife and daughter. The other two members of the 
committee, Howe and Martin, were accompanied by Millard Howe and 
Frank Barnes, L. C. Averill and wife, two young men, Tucker and Kimball, 
and the wife and two children of T. J. Martin. They came by way of the 
lakes to Duluth, then a town of 300 inhabitants, then to Crow Wing on the 
cars, remaining there the guests of James Campbell, late of Richwood, 



324 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

who kept a liotel at that place, until they could procure wagons to transport 
them to Detroit. They arrived in Detroit ^lay 22. 187 1, where they met 
Mr. Chapin and Mr. Day. who were staying at Tyler's Hotel, it being the 
only house near the line of the railroad. 

On our way through Otter Tail City we formed the acquaintance of Mr. 
and Mrs. E. G. Holmes, who have done so much for the prosperity of 
Detroit. 

We found the following ex-soldiers living near Detroit, viz.: William 
W. Rossman, Josiah Richardson, Derrick Hu.ck and John O. French. The 
colony was soon increased by the arrival of Charles H. Sturtevant and 
Martin H. Garry. 

The first store in the village was built by E. G. Holmes and John H. 
Phinney in Tyler Town in August of 1871. 

In the fall of 1871 Capt. William F. Roberts came as an agent for the 
New England Colony, which had purchased all the railroad land in the 
township of Detroit, and proceeded to put up a building known as the 
New England House, which has since been enlarged to the present Waldorf 
Hotel. In the spring of 1872 a large number of ex-soldiers came to Detroit. 
Among them were George Wilson, Col. George H. Johnston, Edgar M. 
Johnston, L. D. Phillips, James T. Bestick, Robert Carson, George A. 
Learman, Milo S. Converse, George L. Brackett, George W. Grant and 
others. 

On the l:;ack of this certificate is jirinted the articles of incorpo- 
ration, which are too lengthy to pnl)hsh in fnll, hut the preamhle 
reads as follows : 

Whereas. It is proposed to form an association under the foregoing 
title for the purpose of promoting and aiding emigration of persons who 
served in the late war, and others, and the settlement of families on the 
present uncultivated land of the West (and more especially at present, on 
lands in the neighborhood of the town of Detroit Lake, Becker County, 
Minnesota,) in such manner as to induce considerable companies to go 
and settle in the neighborhood of each other, and thus create a community 
for mutual protection and encouragement, and the early establishment of 
schools, churches, and other needful institutions of society: 

And ll'licrcas. It has been determined that the most convenient 
method of managing the matters aforesaid will be to put all the lands, 
moneys, and property of every description which shall be contributed, or 
may be acquired in the promotion of the matters aforesaid, in the hands 
of one person, to be held by him in trust, and managed for the promotion 
of the business: 

And Whereas, Colonel George H. Johnston, of Boston, ^Massachusetts, 
has been chosen to act as such trustee for the present, and until his 
successor shall be chosen: 

A'oti', Therefore, I, the said George H. Johnston, in consideration of the 
premises and one dollar in hand paid, do by these presents accept said 



A Pioneer History of Becker Couxtv. 325 

Trust, etc., etc. Then follows eleven articles for the government of the 
Trustee and the Association. 

In Witness Whereof, I, the said George H. Johnston, have hereunto 
set my hand and seal, this fourteenth day of June, A. D. 1871. 

George H. Johnston. (L. S. ) 

This association was separate from, and independent of the Gale 
or Xew England Colony, mentioned by T. J. ^lartin in a preceding 
article. 

They acquired all the odd numbered sections of land in Detroit 
Township, and laid out the original townsite of Detroit on the south 
half of Section 2". Colonel Johnston served in the capacity of trustee 
for several years at the end of which time for some unknown reason 
the whole of this valuable acquisition came into his hands, and in 
1883 a large part of it went into the hands of Henry S. Jenkins. 

During the spring and earl}- summer of 1871 the following set- 
tlers located on land in Detroit Township : 

Frank !>. Chapin, Calvin K. Day and William H. H. Howe, 
on Section 26, J. C). Crummet on the east half of the southeast quar- 
ter of Section 34. 

Isaac N. Thomas on the southeast quarter of Section 28, James 
Hickey on the northeast quarter of Section 28 and Dewit C. Heald 
on the northwest quarter of Section 28. 

Swan Anderson on the southwest quarter of Section 22, and 
Charles E. Herbert on the northeast quarter of Section 22. 

?\Iillard F. Howe and Frank Barnes and Henry Aliller on Sec- 
tion 14. 

Frank A. Johnson on the southwest quarter of Section 6, and 
Gus. Turnwall on the southeast quarter of Section 6. 

Nelson Heath on the southwest quarter of Section 2. 

Mellville H. Davis on the southwest quarter of Section 8, and 
James Blanchard on the west half of the east half of Section 8, and 
a settler on the east half of the east half of Section 8, whose name 
I have forgotten. 

On Section 10 George Vose and John Anderson. 

C. P. Wilcox on the southeast quarter of Section 18, and Cyrus 
A. Rollins on the west half of the south quarter of Section 18. 

Charles O. Quincey on the southeast quarter of Section 24 and 
Charles \\\ Rand on the southwest quarter of Section 24. 



326 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Israel James Hanson on the southeast quarter of Section 30, 
Alfred Staigg" on the northeast quarter of Section 30, and John 
Lethenstrom on the northwest quarter of Section 30. 

Hannah Collins was living on the southwest quarter of Section 36. 

There was also a settler on Section 20, whose name I have for- 
ten, perhaps two. 

In December, 1871, Lester C. McKinstry, William P. AIcKinstrv 
and Hosmer H. Wilcox took claims on Section 4. 

E. G. Holmes sent his store to Detroit in August, 1871, it being 
the first store opened in the village, and in the fall of 1S72 located 
there permanently. 

The following from the Detroit Record, May 25th, 1872. 

A pioneer association has been organized at Detroit, a meeting of 
which was held at Tyler's Hotel on Thursday of this week. (The 
association has for its object the mutual benefit of its members.) 
Mrs. West. 

A large majority of these settlers were members of the New 
England Colony and many others located in the village belonging 
to that colony. In the spring and summer of 1872 another stream 
of emigrants poured into Detroit from Boston and other parts of 
New England, and in 1873 the influx of settlers was kept up, al- 
though there was quite a falling off as compared with the two 
previous years. The newcomers, how-ever, were not all from New 
England, probably one-fourth of the whole population coming from 
other parts of the country. 

Among the New Englanders who came in 1871 were Robert 
Buchanan, Thomas Louden, Alexander Louden, W. C. Roberts, 
George E. Jepson, Millard F. Howe, Frank Barnes, L. D. Phillips 
and many more whose names I have forgotten and have not space 
to mention if I could remember them all. Many more came in 
1872, and in the spring of 1873 the following came to the village: 
Charles W. Dix, A. S. McAlister, and from other parts of the 
country came J. H. Sutherland, S. N. Horneck, A. J. Clark, Carl- 
ton Curry, Jasper B. Hillyer and Charles Cochran or "Scotty" as he 
is familiarly called. 

Col. George H. Johnston came to Detroit in the fall of 1871 
but went back to ]^>oston, returning in the spring of 1872 to remain 
permanently. Robert Carson came with him as private secretary 
and remained with him for several vears. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 327 

John A. Teague first came to Detroit about the 20th of May, 
1872, but after remaining there a day or two went on to Glyndon 
where a village was just started. About the first of May he took 
a preemption on a quarter section of land on Section 14, in Hawley, 
in Clay County, where he lived until 1874 when he came to Detroit 
and engaged in the drug business, in which he remained until 1906 
when he became a full-fledged dry goods merchant. Mr. Teague 
has made a success in business aiTairs since he came to Becker County. 

W. J. Wood came to Detroit with his parents July, 1872. He 
was then budding into manhood, and went by the name of the big 
Wood boy. 

Some of the members of this colony were lacking in staying- 
qualities, for in the year 1873 they began to scatter away and their 
numbers have continued to dwindle down by removal and death 
until of the three hundred or more who came at diflferent times, 
there is now but a handful left. 

The colony may be said to have undergone a severe and thorough 
sifting process, and those who remain represent the No. i Hard 
kernels of wheat, a fair illustration of the "survival of the fittest." 

Many of the worthy colonists have fallen by the wayside, and 
their bones are now mingling with the soil of Becker County, others 
have made Detroit a way station on their journey to other regions, 
but a majority of them returned at an early date to their old homes 
in New England from whence they migrated. 

M. V. B. Davis came to Becker County with Mrs. Davis about 
the middle of the seventies and located on a farm in Lake Eunice, 
but finding a rural life too dull for his energetic temperament he 
finally located in the village of Detroit and engaged in the boot and 
shoe business in which he has been eminently successful. 

A. E. Bowling, another gentleman who has made a small fortune 
as a boot and shoe merchant, came to Detroit from Michigan 
April 15, 1879, with his young wife and his circumstances now 
indicate what industry and frugality will accomplish. 

Horace Bowman came here first in 1874 but remained but a short 
time. He came again in 1879 with Mrs. Bowman, after the death 
of his father-in-law and engaged in business with his brother-in-law, 
S. N. Horneck. 

Among the pioneer women of Detroit who are still living here 
are Mrs. F. B. Chapin, Mrs. C. K. Day, Mrs. C. O. Ouincy, Mrs. 
J. E. Wood, Mrs. E. G. Holmes, Mrs. W. C. RobertsfMrs. S. N. 



328 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Ilorneck, .Mrs. Charles Craigie, .Mrs. S. B. Childs, Mrs. C. H. Sturte- 
vant. Mrs. K. Rnmery. Mrs. Geo. Wilson and ]Mrs. J. E. Bestick. .Ml 
these came in the early seventies. 

Mrs. S. X. Horneck died in February 1907, since the above was 
written 



Organization of Detroit Township. 

Detroit Township was organized on the 29th day of July, 1871, 
and the first township election was held at Tyler's Hotel on that date. 

The township officers elected that day were : 

W. S. WoodrniT, chairman of supervisors ; C. .A.. Sherman, super- 
visor ; S. J. Fo.x, supervisor ; .\rchibald Mc.A.rthur, town clerk ; 
S. B. Childs, treasurer; Willaim W. Rossman. justice of peace: 
John O. French, constable ; Z. Sutherland, constable. 

When the township was first org^anized it took in all of what 
is now the townships of Detroit, Lake \'iew, Burlington, Erie, Height 
of Land, Silver Leaf, Everg-reen, Toad Lake, Spruce Grove, Wolf 
Lake. Green V'alley and Runeburg. When Lake \'icw was organized 
the next spring-, all of the south tier of townships were detached 
from Detroit and attached to Lake \'iew, and when Burlington was 
organized later on, everything east of Burlington became a part of 
that township, and everything east of Detroit still remained a part 
of Detroit, and when Richwood was organized, everything east of 
that township became a part of Richwood. 

There was considerable non-resident pine land scattered over 
these eastern townships, and they came in for their share of township 
taxation, which in man\- cases was enormous, and which finally led 
to a lawsuit in 1876 with the result that these unorganized townships 
were cut loose from the organized towns and all farther taxation 
discontinued except for state and county purposes. 



First General Election in Detroit. 

The first general election in Detroit Township was held at 
Tyler's Hotel on the 6th day of November, 1871. Millard Howe, 
who was one of the judges of that election says: "The first elec- 
tion in Detroit was held at Tyler's Hotel in November, 1871. The 
election board were : Judges : Frank Barnes, Millard Howe and 



A PioNKER History of EJecker County. 329 

either Isaiah Delemater or Wilham G. Woochvorth, I do not re- 
member which, and the clerks were Charles Doell and either Dele- 
mater or W'oodworth. We played a game of seven-up to see who 
should carry the election returns out to Dr. Pyle's house who then 
lived two miles west of where the village of Audubon is now. Pyle 
was then county auditor, appointed by the county commisioners. 
I got beat, so the next morning I started out for his place on foot 
by the way of the Oak Lake Cut. A little west of the cut I came 
across Dennis Stack who showed me where Pyle lived. 

Millard F. Howe. 

Following close upon the heels of the New England Colony was 
another colony coming from Buffalo, New York and from Dunville, 
Canada. In the summer of 1872 a man by the name of Whitson 
C. Darling, hailing from the last named town arrived at Detroit 
and after looking the county over returned to the East and began 
the organization of a colony with which to people the vacant land 
in the vicinity of Detroit. Our friend Alfred Meilie in his history 
of Erie Township gives us further light on the inside workings of 
Darling and his colony. 

On the 29th of March, the first instalment of this colony 
arrived from Buffalo, and consisted of Mrs. Caroline Trimlett and 
her son William, now one of the merchants of Detroit, then a beard- 
less boy ; ]\Ir. George Neuner and wife and two striplings of boys, 
John Neuner, now of Frazee, and Frank Neuner of Erie Township 
But few more came for the next two or three years and the flood 
of emigration did not fairly set in until the spring of 1876, when 
it began in earnest, and for the next three or four years bid fair 
to rival the X'ew England Colony of 1871, 'yz and 'y^, in the num- 
ber of emigrants it sent to Detroit and the surrounding coimtry. 
They came to the number of about three hundred from Buft'alo and 
Canada in about equal numbers, those coming from Buff'alo being 
mostly Germans, while those coming from Dunville, Canada, were 
mostly native born Canadians of English or Irish descent. Some of 
the Germans located in Detroit but a majority of them took home- 
steads in Erie Township. The Canadians mostly settled on land in 
Lake View, Detroit and Burlington. They were nearly all honest 
and industrious and possessed of excellent staying c[ualities, as 
they and their children now constitute a large part of the population 
of Erie and Lake View, with a good sprinkling of them in Detroit 
and Burlineton. 



330 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The first white child born in Detroit Township was a daughter 
of Henry and Jane Way, who was born on the north shore of Oak 
Lake in July, 1870. This child died in infancy. 

The first white boy born in Detroit must have a notice. He was 
born Wednesday, the 24th of July, 1872, and his mother was ]\Irs. 
J. O. Crummett. This is Frank Crummett. 

The first death in Detroit Township and in Becker Covmty was 
Almon W. Sherman, who died on the west shore of Oak Lake on 
the 30th day of December, 1869. 

The first people married in Detroit Township were John An- 
derson to Mary St. Clair, by Squire Rossman on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1872. They were married at the home of Samuel J. Fox 
wdio was then living on Fox Hill, now in the heart of the village 
of Detroit. ]\Iiss St. Clair was of mixed blood. 

Clayton Gould and Dee Sherman were the first couple married 
in the township where both parties were fully of white blood. They 
were married at the home of her mother, ^Irs. Almon Sherman, 
at Oak Lake on the loth of September, 1872. 



Henry Way. 



Henrv Wa^• was born at Muncie. Delaware County, Lidiana, on 
the 8th day of October, 1838. He was married to Jane A. Sherman 
on the 7th of November, 1858, in what is now Fremont County, 
Iowa. 

Mr. Way is a veteran frontiersman. Born on the frontier, he 
has ever since kept in the vanguard of civilization, having been 
successively one of the pioneers of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. In 
1865 he was a member of the first band of white people to take up 
their residence in Otter Tail County and he now (1905) enjoys 
the proud distinction of being the oldest white resident in Becker 
County. 

As has already been stated, Mr. Way settled in Detroit Township 
on the 28th of June, 1868, and in the summer of 1870 changed his 
residence to Section 20 of what is now Audubon Township. He 
here secured 240 acres of what I consider the best land in Becker 
County, and has been one of the most successful farmers in his 
section of the country, and he was one of the first to demonstrate 
the fact that apples could be successfully raised in our latitude. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 331 

Mr. Way now resides in the village of Osage, and was one of 
the originators, and is now one of the proprietors of the flouring 
mill at that place, a structure of which the people of that village 
are justly proud. 



A. W. Sherman. 



Almon W. Sherman was born at Monkton, Chittenden County, 
Vermont, on the 9th day of May, 1803, and was married to Lois H. 
Cutler on the 14th of May, 1835. 

Mr. Sherman came to Otter Tail County, Minnesota, on the 19th 
day of May, 1865. There were sixteen families in the party, and 
they were the first settlers in Otter Tail County. After residing in 
that county for three years he in company with four other men 
came to Becker County, arriving on Section 18 in Detroit Township 
on the 28th day of June, 1868. His farm was afterwards purchased 
by the county for a poor farm, but for several years past has been 
the home of Lars O. Ramstad. Mr. Sherman built a house and 
wintered with his family during the winter of 1868 and 1869 at 
Oak Lake, with no neighbors nearer than White Earth in one 
direction and the Otter Tail River in the other. 

The winter was long and cold, and provisions were scarce and 
on one occasion, had it not been for unexpected assistance from Paul 
Beaulieu they would have sufifered from hunger. 

Mr. Sherman died at Oak Lake, on the 30th day of December, 
1869. 



Mrs. Lois Cutler. 

Mrs. Lois Cutler was born at Lebanon. Grafton County, New 
Hampshire, on the 24th day of September, 1788, and was married 
to Alpheus Cutler in 1808. Her maiden name was Lathrop. Mrs. 
Cutler came into Becker County with her son-in-law, A. W. Sherman 
in the year 1868, it being then a wilderness. There were no houses 
north of Rush Lake a distance of forty miles from where they 
settled. They were visited by the Northern Pacific Railroad ex- 
ploring party in the summer of 1869. In this party were Gov. Smith, 
Senator Wiildom and others, and much surprised they were to meet 
on the frontier, the sister of a verv rich and noted banker of Wash- 



T,T,2 A PlONKKK MiSToKV oF ril'X'KKk CnrxTV. 

ington City, as Mrs. Culler assured them slie was the sister of J. H. 
Lathrop of that city. It was her of whom Charles Carletoii Coffin, 
who was with this expedition wrote, as the woman "who had kept 
on the tide of emigration from New York to Nebraska, and thence 
north to this place, and whose locks once whitened with age: had 
under the rejuvenating influence of the .\orthwcst become l)lack 
again." 

She was a member of the church of Latter Day i^aints. and a 
very exemplary one for forty-six years. She firmly believed that 
at one time a daughter of hers was miraculously healed by the im- 
position of hands by the ordained elders of the church. 

Her husband, Alpheus Cutler, a soldier of the War of 1812, 
stood high in the councils of their church. 

Mrs. Cutler died at the home of her grandson C. A. Sherman, 
at Oak Lake, on the 23rd of March, 1878. 



Mrs. Lois Sherman. 

Mrs. Lois LL Sherman, wife of Almon W. Sherman and daughter 
of Mrs. Lois Cutler, was born at Lisle, Broome County, New York, 
on the 2d day of March, 181 1. When twenty years of age, after 
two years of sickness, during which time she was nearly helpless 
and unable to leave her bed, she was almost instantaneously and 
permanently restored to health, by an ordained elder belonging to 
the church of which Joseph Smith was the head, who was then 
holding meetings in the neighborhood. 

For several years, during the early seventies. I lived a near 
neighbor to these people, and many times I have heard the story 
of this marvelous transaction from the lips of both Mrs. Cutler and 
Mrs. Sherman. They were both women of sincerity, veracity and 
intelligence, and I was never in the least disposed to doubt the 
truth of their statement. This was the beginning and the foundation 
of their faith in and connection with the church of Latter Day Saints, 
to which they and their posterity for five generations have most 
loyally and faithfully adhered, and bv which in the course of events 
they and their kindred became the chief corner stone of that church 
when it was organized at Oak Lake in the summer of 1875, and 
which now (1905) has a membership of more than 100 souls in 
Becker Countv. j\Irs. Sherman came to Becker Countv with her 



A Pionee;r History oi" BiiCKE;R County. 333 

husband in 1868 and died at their old homestead on the shores of 
Oak Lake, on the nth day of April, 1880. 



Mrs. Jane A. Way. 

Mrs. Jane A. Way was born in Hancock County, Illinois, on 
the 14th day of April, 1842. She was the daughter of Almon W. 
and Lois H. Sherman and is the wife of Mr. Henry Way who came 
to Becker County in the summer of 1868, and she is entitled to the 
honor of being the oldest white settler in point of residence of her 
sex now living in Becker County. 

Mrs. Way has had her full measure of frontier life, having braved 
the dangers incident to the settlement of a new country in three 
or four different states. 

She has been the mother of seven children : viz., Henry A., 
Pliny A., Lois Dora, Nellie C, Fanny R., Clara D. and Arra Ann. 
Of these seven, only Nellie, Fanny and Arra survive. All three 
are married. 

Mrs. Way is now enjoying the fruits of a busy and eventful 
life with her husband at Osage, in a quiet and comfortable home, 
surrounded by everything necessary to make life comfortable in 
her mature vears. 



Cutler A. Sherman. 

Cutler A. Sherman, son of Almon W. and Lois Sherman, was 
born December 6th, 1848, at Silver Creek. Mills County, Iowa. In 
July, 1865, he came with his parents to Battle Lake in Otter Tail 
County, Minn., and in the fall of 1868 came with them to Detroit 
Township. He resided here on the shores of Oak Lake for about 
fifteen years, when he took up his residence at Clitheral in Otter Tail 
County, where he was accidently killed by the upsetting of a load 
of wood on which he was riding, on the 4th day of November, 1885. 



John O. French. 

Johnny French, as he is familiarl\- called, was born at New 
Market, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on the 31st day 
of October, 1842. Probably no other man in Becker County has 
had a more adventurous career, or been through more dangers 
than he. 



334 ^"^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

At the beginning of the Civil War he enHsted in the First 
Minnesota Regiment of V^olunteers, and remained with his regiment 
until the close of his three year term of enlistment. He says he 
never missed a meal or a single battle. He was at the first battle 
of Bull Run, Antietam and all the other bloody battles in which 
the First Minnesota was engaged, including the famous charge at 
Gettysburg, in which two-thirds of the men in his regiment were 
either killed or woiftided. 

Murdock Pattison, of Cormorant was in this charge. French 
had his clothing pierced with bullets in three different battles but 
never received a scratch himself. 

In 1864 he enlisted in Brackett's Battalion and crossed the plains 
in Sully's expedition against the Sioux Indians, and took part in 
the bloody battle of the Bad Lands, which was fought on the ninth 
and tenth of August, 1864. Clem. ]\ layer of Frazee. was also in 
this battle. 

French went with the first Northern Pacific Railroad exploring 
expedition as assistant guide and was an assistant in the party of 
engineers that located the line through Becker County. 

He is now (1905) the only man living in Detroit Township who 
was living there previous to the spring of 1871. 



Extracts from the Otter Tail City Record. 

W. F. BaIvL, Editor, E. G. Holmes. Proprietor. 

August 5th, 1871. — E. G. Holmes & Company have sent a stock of 
goods to Detroit. The goods were hauled in heavy wagons, drawn by 
nine ox teams. There were only two houses in Detroit at that time. 

September 30th, 1871. — E. G. Holmes & Company have established a 
store at Detroit Lake, endeavoring to keep pace with the developments 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

December 2nd, 1871. — Mr. Giles Peake has opened a new store at 
Detroit City, in Becker County. 

The cars are running regularly on the Northern Pacific Railroad as 
far west as Oak Lake. 

February 24th, 1872. — Captain Roberts of the Boston Colony is just 
completing a new building for a hotel, on the new townsite. 
Mrs. West. 



Extracts from the Detroit Record. 

The first publication at Detroit was on the i8th of ]\Iay, 1872. 
The editor at that time was William F. Ball, the first newspaper 
man in the countv, a Virginian, but one who lovallv served his coun- 




HON. E. G. HOLMES. 



MRS. E. G. HOLMES. 




MRS. JESSIE C. WEST. 



HON. W. F. BALL. 



336 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 

try in the Union army for three years, the most of which time he 
with his command was chasing after Quantrell in Missouri. Ar- 
kansas and the Indian Territory. E. G. Holmes was the proprietor. 

Mr. Ball says : 

I was born at Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania on the 15th 
day of June, 1843. 

My father was a Virginian, and his home was in Fairfax County, Va. 
He was a Methodist minister (there were four brothers, all Methodist 
ministers), and a member of the Baltimore Conference. He had been 
stationed at Danville, where I was born, but transferred back to Virginia 
soon after my birth, so I never knew Danville as a home. This was 
something like being "born at sea," and I have always called myself a 
Virginian. The old homestead in Virginia was right near "Ball's Cross 
Roads," only a couple of miles from the bank of the Potomac, and right 
across from Washington. Ball's Cross Roads, Ball's Bluff, and all those 
places in which Ball appears in that vicinity, take their names from my 
father's family. I mention all this to explain why I, born in Pennsylvania, 
always call myself a Virginian. 

Mr. Ball edited the Record until about 1877 when he went away 
and a year or two aferwards settled in Fargo. N. D., where he has 
become one of the first attorneys in the state. He was at one time 
mayor of Fargo. 

May 25th, 1872. — Thirty-seven houses could be counted in Detroit 
from one spot. 

May 25th, 1872. — A pioneer association was organized at Detroit. 

June 2d 1872. — Myriads of young grasshoppers swarm on the prairies 
in every direction, and much anxiety is felt by the farmers in consequence. 

June 23d 1872. — Captain Daniel Coney, brother of Ex-Governor Coney, 
of Maine, has completed his residence near Floyd Lake, about three miles 
from town, and removed to that delightful spot this week. (The Byron 
Wheeler place.) 

July 7th, 1872. — Rev. Mr. Wood will preach tomorrow at McKenzie's 
Hall at 10:30 o'clock, followed by Sunday school and Bible class; service 
also at 3 p. m. 

The first brick chimney in Detroit, and we believe in Becker County, 
was put up last week by Mr. W. W. Rossman, who erected two on his 
home. Let it be recorded! 

W. F. Ball, Esq., having moved to Detroit, has resigned the office of 
clerk of court of Otter Tail County. 

Norcross brothers have just finished burning their first kiln of brick 
and finished them as samples. Their bricks are of excellent quality for 
either outside work or a cellar wall. (W. A. Norcross had a hand in 
making these bricks). 

July 20th, 1872.— Charles J. Wright is added to A. H. Wilcox's force of 
men examining the Northern Pacific Railroad lands in Becker County. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 337 

He assisted in the United States survey of this county two years ago, and 
on arrival at Detroit, Tuesday last, observed that something had happened. 

THE FIRST CHURCH IN DETROIT. 

On Friday evening the 19th inst., a few brethren met, agreeable to 
previous notice, at the home of Rev. Mr. Wood to consider the propriety 
of constituting themselves into a church of Christ, in fellowship with the 
Baptist denomination. After due consideration, they agreed imanimously to 
take this important step and adopted articles of faith and a covenant and 
invited a number of brethren temporarily in the vicinity, to constitute a 
council for recognition. — Record, July 2y, 1872. 

On Sunday morning, this council, representing the First Baptist 
Church of Duluth, the Fourth Baptist Church of Boston and the American 
Home Missionary Society, together with the delegates from the newly 
organized church, and finding the proceedings in every way regular and 
proper, resolved to proceed with the recognition. This was fulfilled in the 
evening service in the following order, viz.: 

Sermon and prayer of recognition by the Rev. J. E. Wood of the 
American Baptist Home Mission Society; hand of fellowship by Brother 
J. S. Campbell of the Duluth church; charge to the church by Brother 
G. H. Johnston of Boston. Then was fully organized the first church of 
Detroit, and the first Baptist church west of Duluth on the Northern 
Pacific Railroad. 

July 2^, 1872. — There is only one flour mill in Becker county, and that 
is hardly entitled to be called a mill — the old government mill at White 
Earth of very small capacity. The grain crop of this county for the 
present year would afford plenty of work for a good mill. 

At the county commissioners' meeting, Saturday, June 8th, W. H. 
H. Howe was appointed to employ a surveyor to lay out the White Earth 
road. 

D. F. Bradley, of Pembina County, Dakota Territory, applied for a 
license to run a ferry across the Red River, opposite the mouth of the 
Pembina river, which was ordered permitted. 

August 12. — Bishop Whipple held his first service here, at the freight 
depot. Charles H. Rand saw a bear near his claim shanty this week, two 
miles from Detroit. 

On September 30, 1870, S. B. Childs came to Detroit with a horse 
team from Alexandria. 

Archie McArthur was then hauling out logs for his house on Sec- 
tion 35, just west of the mouth of the Pelican River on Detroit Lake, 
when S. P). Childs canie in. The little back building of Tyler's 
hotel was all that existed then ; the roof was covered wdth shakes. 

Aug. 3d, 1872. — George E. Wheeler has opened a blacksmith shop at 
Detroit. 

The cellar for R. L. Frazee's residence is completed. 



338 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

White Earth road has 2,800 feet of marsh road to be corduroyed, 2,100 
feet in one string. Swan Olund and J. P. Engberg of Richwood have 
the contract. The read will be ready by October ist. 

"Remember it is the Pioneer store of Detroit." E. G. H. & Co. 
As the grasshoppers took their flight "looking toward the sun they 
seemed like drifting snow, from over 100 to 500 feet upwards." 

August 17, 1872. — Congregational council. The organization of a 
church at Detroit. (On Monday afternoon and evening last a Congrega- 
tional council met at McKenzie's Hall. We are informed that the services 
were very impressive and interesting, and there were present at the meet- 
ings the following clergymen: Revs. C. C. Salter, Duluth; C. H. Merrill, 
Mankato; Richard Hall, Superintendent of Congregational Home Mission- 
ary Society, St. Paul; C. M. Terry, St. Paul; C. Pickett. St. Cloud; A. 
Fuller, Rochester; C. M. Saunders, Waukegan, 111.; S. H. Lee, Cleveland, 
Ohio; E. O. Williams, Glyndor; H. A. Gates, Detroit Congregational Mis- 
sionary, on N. P. R. R. ; J. E. Wood, Missionary for Baptists on the N. P. R. 
R. ; Rev. Richard Hall, of St. Paul, acted as moderator. The sermon was by 
Rev. S. H. Lee, Columbus, Ohio, and the right hand of fellowship extend- 
ed by Rev. E. S. Williams, of Glyndon. 

A church was organized and eleven members were received into the 
same. Several others were only prevented by reason of not having got 
their letters from homes in the east. 

Aug. 24, 1872. — R. L. Frazee's residence is nearly built. The main 
building is 24x36 and 16x24. 

Fred Peake is erecting a large store near the New England House to 
be occupied by his brother. 

Rev. McKinstry, of Colfax, (now Audubon,) in this county, is 
visiting Detroit this week for the first time. He made us a freindly call. 

August 31, 1872. — Frazee and Holmes have this week surveyed and 
platted the 40 acre tract bought of Mr. Fox, and are now ready to sell 
lots. 

September 2, 1872. — Mr. Kimball Hayden, wife and two children ar- 
rived in town this week from Boston. Mr. Hayden has taken a claim in 
the Detroit woods, (now Erie Township,) purchased lots in town for build- 
ing in the spring, and we understand is to be connected with the sawmill 
soon to be erected here. 

September 7, 1872.— On Sunday last, the telegraph office at Detroit 
was removed to the new depot, since which time the trains stop at that 
place. The new buildings are very convenient and comfortable, and Frank 
Johnson has now everything in order. 

September 14, 1872.— S. B. Childs this week marketed the first load of 
oats raised in Detroit Township. In looking to the great future, this is the 
first rain drop of a great shower. Mr. Childs has threshed his wheat, which 
yields 20 bushels to the acre. 

September 14, 1872.— E. G. Holmes and wife, the latter just returned 
from New Jersey, are stopping at Mr. Tyler's, and from this time on will 
make Detroit their residence. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 339 

September 14, 1872. — E. G. Holmes & Co. are erecting a new store 
22x60 on lots recently purchased near the railroad depot. 

Judge Reynolds is building a story and a half Gothic home, 16x26, on 
land recently purchased of Mr. Fox, which will be finished about Novem- 
ber 1st. 

February ist, 1873. — Rev. I\Ir. Christ the first resident Methodist 
preacher in Detroit arrived April 5th. 1873. The following arrived on the 
train last Saturday, March 29th, 1873. Mrs. Trimlett and son; George 
Neuner, wife and two boys. The party is stopping at Tyler's hotel, and it 
is rumored that Mrs. Trimlett has leased the house and will rent the hotel 
the present season. 

May 31. 1873. — The Congregational church is now completed and 
services will be held there on each Sabbath morning and evening. It is a 
very neat and pleasant chapel, and reflects credit both to our new but fast 
growing town, and those through whose instrumentality it was erected. 

Mr. George W. Grant from Peabody, Mass., arrived Tuesday, June 7, 
1873, Ex- Vice President Schuyler Colfax, visited Detroit on the nth of 
August, 1873, and pronounced the Park Region the most beautiful coun- 
try he ever laid his eyes on. 

October. 1873. — School was divided, and C. W. McConnel was made 
principal. Mrs. Sutherland was retained as teacher of the primary depart- 
ment. The schoolhouse cost $2,500. 

August 30, 1874. — Work on the mill dam on Pelican River is steadily 
progressing. Squire Rossman has charge of the work. The raceway, 
flume and bulkhead are to be put in next week. It is the intention of the 
parties interested to have the mill up and equipped this fall, probably in 
October. The contract for furnishing all the lumber for this work and also 
for the mill building has been let to J. E. Van Gordon, one of the pro- 
prietors of Richwood sawmill. 

September 6, 1874. — Protect your grain and hay stacks by plowing 
around them in good season. Keep down the prairie fires this fall. Save 
all the prairie burning for a concerted attack on young grasshoppers that 
will without fail make their appearance next spring. 

September 5th, 1874. — H. A. Bowman of Bufifalo, New York is at the 
Wilson House. 

September 5th, 1874. — A large black bear has been seen hy different 
parties in the Detroit woods east. It visited the home of Samuel Hamilton. 
D. G. Webster, of Lake View, saw one near his home, and some little girls 
saw one near Detroit Lake. 

If the citizens hope to save the prairie grass for the young grasshoppers 
in the spring, they will need to organize. A strip should be burned on 
either side of the railroad track through every town. 

September 12, 1874. — On Saturday last there was unloaded from the 
Northern Pacific freight train at this place, a handsome church bell for the 
Catholic church at White Earth. The bell was cast at the St. Louis Bell 
Works; weight about i.ooo pounds and costing $400. 

October ist. 1874. — Once more we call the attention of the people of 
Becker county to the almost vital importance of keeping down the prairie 
fires this fall. Keep them down at whatever cost, and then fire the grass 



340 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

simultaneously in all directions on some day next spring and more will be 
dene toward driving out the grasshoppers than can possibly be done in 
any other way. We have only noticed the light of one or two fires thus 
far and they were a goodly distance off, and perhaps out of this county. 
But even those were one or two too many. Not one foot of ground should 
be burned over this fall. Once more then we say, "Keep down the prairie 
fires." 

George H. Reynolds, son of Judge Reynolds of this place has formed 
a copartnership with the Hon. Knute Nelson of Alexandria. Mr. Reynolds 
graduated from the law department of the Michigan University with honors 
last spring. He is a young man of fine natural ability with economical 
habits, and starts in the world with bright prospects before him. We wish 
him abundant success in all his undertakings. 

September 9, 1876. — John French with a party of friends last week in 
one day killed 105 prairie chickens. 

Mrs. West. 

After W. F. Ball, A. J. Clark, George H. Johnston, L. Ed. David- 
son, Arthur Linn and George D. Hamilton have successively pub- 
lished the Record. Mr. Hamilton bought the Record in the fall of 
1878 and since that time has made it one of the best and most 
prosperous county papers in the State of IMinnesota. 

The first sermon preached at Detroit was by Charles Doell. 
who ])retcnded to 1)e a preacher. This was late in the summer 
of 1871. He had an audience of about a dozen. Just before this 
he preached in Lake View at C. H. Sturtevant's place. He after- 
wards fell from grace. 

Father Gurley preached in Detroit soon afterwards, at the 
Hemsley house, since known as the Brook's farm. Josiali Dele- 
meter, a yotmg attorney tried to start "Old Hundred" ; he tried it 
twice and failed, so he had to preach without any singing. 
Mrs,. West. J. O. Cruminiett. 

Friend Wilcox. — The old store that you refer to that was moved from 
Otter Tail City in 1871 was built into a dwelling house and has been owned 
for the last eight or ten years by the late M. S. Converse. 

I started the first bank in Detroit in the spring of 1872, and Mr. R. L. 
Frazee was associated with me. Bowman and myself started the bank of 
Detroit on July ist, 1875, and the Hotel Minnesota was built in 1883 and 
opened on July ist, 1884. 

Respectfully yours, 

E. G. Holmes. 



Becker County Agricultural Society. 

On the 13th of August, 1872. the Becker County Agricultural Society 
was organized at a meeting held at McKenzie's Hall, with the following 



A Pioneer History of' Becker County. 341 

named persons as members: viz.: George H. Johnston, J. E. Wood, James 
B. Chapman, Wm. C. Roberts, Robert B. Carson, N. M. McFadden, Giles 
Peake, Geo. Martin, M. M. Bradley, Wm. F. Ball, W. W. Rossman, F. 
L. Woods, A. J. Farnsworth, F. B. Chapin, A. J. Underwood, C. P. 
Bailey, Geo. E. Wheeler. D. Eldridge, L. S. Cravath, W. H. H. Howe, James 
McKenzie, Isaiah Delemater, Thomas Louden, Alexander Louden, John 
Watson, Edgar M. Johnston, George A. Norcross, C. K. Day, Charles E. 
Brown. L- D. Philipps, James T. Bestick, H. N. Gates, M. M. Tyler, Charles 
W. Rand. Wm. W. Hemsley. David Pyle, J. Van Gordon, L. G. Stevenson, 
Charles H. Sturtevant, T. J. Martin, Oliver Taylor and George B. Hibbard. 

The following were elected the first officers of the society: 

President, F. B. Chapin; Secretary, W. F. Ball. 

The first Becker County Fair was held at Detroit on the 5th day of 
October, 1872. — Dctrcit Record. 

Charlie Sturtevant says there was a grove of young poplar trees 
growing in the street in front of McKenzie's store (now Horneck 
and Bowman's), in 1872. 
Mrs. West. 



How Detroit was Named. 

Archie McArthur informed me many years ago that Detroit Lake 
received its name in the following way : A Catholic priest, who was 
a Frenchman, and whose naine was then familiar but now forgot- 
ten, in traveling through the country camped for the night on the 
north shore of what is now Detroit Lake, in plain sight of where 
the long bar stretches across the lake. The water in the lake was 
low, and the dim outline of the bar as it stretched across the lake 
was glimmering in the light of the setting sun, when our reverend 
father exclaimed to some of the attendants, "See what a beautiful 
Detroit" ; Detroit, so I am informed by French scholars, is the 
name in their language of a narrow place in a lake, but in this in- 
stance referred to the bar reaching across the lake. 



Roads. 

When the people of Detroit began to build up their village they 
discovered that they were nearly surrounded by lakes and impass- 
able swamps. 

The old Red River trail passed around the east side of the village, 
and by tortuous windings afforded a tedious outlet to the northwest 



342 A Pioneer IIistorv oe Becker County. 

and the southeast. In order to get to White Earth, or Oak Lake, 
or Audubon, you were obhged to go around by F. B. Chapin's, and 
thence around by the house that A. I. Smart afterwards built, thence 
by where John O. French now Hves, and thence by the north end of 
Oak Lake. To go east or southeast to Frazee or Erie, you would 
be obliged to go to the north shore of Detroit Lake and cross the 
Pelican River where it flows into the lake and travel in places be- 
yond there on the gravelly beach of the lake. To the west or south- 
west there was only one outlet, and that was around by the south- 
east shore of Lake St. Clair, crossing the outlet where it leaves the 
lake. You could go south by passing around the west end of Detroit 
Lake after the outlet was bridged, but before that the crossing was 
difficult. 

The people of Detroit, however, went at the road problem with 
commendable energy. Their first move was to vote a large issue of 
bonds, and the money was expended with equal liberality outside 
the township as well as at home. They built at a heavy expense, and 
unassisted as far as I know, the entire road from Detroit to White 
Earth via the village of Richwood. These roads while expensive 
were the making of the town. From their construction it received 
an impetus that it has kept up to the present day. 



School District No. i. 

On the I2th day of March, 187J. a petition was granted by the board 
of county commissioners to create School District No. i, and in April the 
first legally created school district in Becker County, was organized by 
electing W. W. Rossman, director; \V. H. H. Howe, clerk, and C. K. Day, 
treasurer. 

The first common school in a legally created school district on the 
line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, west of the Northern Pacific Junc- 
tion was opened at Detroit on July 2d. 1872, at McKenzie's Hall, with Miss 
Lottie J. Frank, of Duluth, as teacher. Her school continued for three 
months with fifteen pupils. 

In February, 1873, the Baptist church was rented and school moved 
there under the management of Miss Amelia Brigham (now Mrs. J. H. 
Sutherland). School continued there five months. 

In the fall of 1872 arrangements were made for the erection of a 
suitable school building. 

August 30th, 1873. — The new school house at Detroit is all completed 
but painting. — Detroit Record. 

Mrs. West. 



A Pioneer Historv of Recker County. 343 

\Mien School District No. i was first created it took in all of 
Detroit Township and a few fractional sections around the northern 
part of Detroit Lake in Lake View. Soon afterwards all of the 
present townships of Erie, Height of Land, Toad Lake, Wolf Lake 
and Green Valley were added to District No. i. The levying 
of heavy taxes on lands in these unorganized townships led to con- 
siderable litigation and but little money was collected and in con- 
junction with the township taxes led to a lawsuit which was decided 
adversely to the district in 1876 and 1877. 

When R. L. Frazee was in the legislature in 1875, he secured 
the enactment of a law confining the size of school districts to one 
tow'Uship of land, or an equivalent thereto. 

If you will examine the map of School District No. i, which 
takes in nearly all of Detroit Township and a small part of Lake 
View, you will observe a notch or two in the western border, where 
some one has broken out of the district and taken several quarter 
sections of land along with them. 

In the year 1873, the settlers in the vicinity of Oak Lake began 
discussing a scheme to organize a new school district, to be made up 
of the northwest quarter of Detroit Township. They were, how- 
ever, soon reminded by the people in the village that they were in 
School District No. i, and were there to stay. They were also 
further informed that in order to establish a new district it would 
be necessary to obtain a majority of all the voters in the district on 
a petition, and as nine-tenths of them lived in and around the village 
this was out of the question. A law was, however, found by which 
they could be set off as individuals, one at a time, to an adjoining 
district, by the county commissioners by proving that they lived near- 
er another schoolhouse than the one in which they were then 
located, and that their land joined the other district. Accord- 
ingly three or four families living in Sections 7, 8 and 19 were 
set off and attached to District No. 19, or what is now District 
No. 39, in Audubon Township. Soon afterwards, Andrew Ben- 
son in Section 30, was set off in the same way. 

The people in the village watched these proceedings with feelings 
of anxiety. They had just lost five townships through the opera- 
tions of the Frazee law and now the one township that remained was 
in danger of dissolution. 

They were at their wits end, and finally as a last resort, they 
appealed to F. B. Chapin, who was always considered the Solomon 



344 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

of Becker County in matters relating to schools and school districts, 
to see if he could not devise some scheme to prevent the further 
disintegration of what territory they had left. 

Chapin took the matter under advisement, and after playing 
a few games of checkers to sharpen his wits, hit upon the device of 
an independent school district, and in the spring of 1878 the machin- 
ery of the reorganized district was put in operation, a permanent 
king row was established along the line of Audubon Township, and 
the holes around the borders efifectually plugged. 

An independent school district is like Shakespeare's reference to 
"that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns." 
It is an easy matter to get into an independent school district, but 
by an ingenious device of the machinery, you can never get out. 

Thanks to the sagacity of F. B. Chapin and the workings of the 
independent school district law. School District Xo. i, remains in- 
tact to his dav. 



Detroit boasts that it had the first grain warehouse built on the 
Northern Pacific Railroad west of Duluth. It was built by J. H. 
Sutherland, for thirteen years judge of probate in our county. He 
completed it ready for business in August, 1873. It was the forerun- 
ner of the elevator system in northern Minnesota. The first load 
of wheat was bought from Mr. Peabody of Pelican Lake, September 
4th, 1873. Wheat was brought to this warehouse from points at a 
long distance. From Fergus Falls, Elizabeth, Norwegian Grove 
and Pelican Rapids. During the fall Mr. Sutherland shipped over 
25,000 bushels. The building was occupied by C. M. Campbell in 
1893 as a grocery store, and is now Pelican saloon, in front of the 
depot. 

THE FIRST TWO LOADS OF WHEAT. 
The first two car loads of wheat ever shipped from Becker County. 

C. H. Graves and Company, 

Commission Merchants, 
Agents for the Onondaga Salt Com., of N. Y. 
Duluth, September 13th, 1873. 
J. H. Sutherland, Esq. 
Detroit, Minn. 
Dear Sir: 

We report car No. 116 containing 2,2'] 55-60 bushels No. 2 wheat (went 
No. 2 because it weighed only 57 lbs., but was otherwise good.) 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 345 

327 55-60 bushels at $1.06 is $347-59 

Paid freight $49- 19 

Inspection 15 49-34 

Net to you $298.25 

We have received bill of lading on car No. 1272, but the car has not 
arrived yet, probably will come in to-night, on this we advance you 

$280.00 

Total $578.25 

Sent to you by express lith inst $300.00 

Sent to you by express 13th inst, this day 278.25 

Total $578.25 

Yours truly, 

C. H. Graves & Co. 
Enclosed please find rules of inspection. 

DuLUTH, September, 15, 1873. 
J. H. Sutherland, Esq.. 
Dear Sir: — 
Car No. 1272 received yesterday. 

339 25-60 bushels of No. 2 wheat at 1.06 $359-79 

Paid freight 50.92 

Inspection 15 51-07 

$308.72 
On which we advanced 280.00 

Leaving due you balance $28.72 

Which we will send with next package of currency. Wheat is tumbling 
down fast, and we are obliged to reduce price to $1.10 for No. i, $1.05 for 
No. 2, 95 cents for No. 3. We will, however, pay you former prices on any 
cars shipped today or tomorrow, so as to save you from loss and allow 
you to adjust your buying prices to the market. 

Yours truly, 
Mrs. West. C. H. Graves & Co. 



Oak Grove Cemetery. 

The first move towards locating a Protestant cemetery at De- 
troit was made on the 24th day of April, 1874. 

The citizens who took the lead in the matter were Judge Reuben 
Reynolds, Col. George H. Johnston and Rev. J. E. Wood. 

At the meeting held on the above date, it was decided to purchase 
ten acres of ground of Col. Johnston, who ofifered it at a low figure. 



346 A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 

to be located in the southeast corner of the northeast c^uarter of the 
northwest quarter of Section 2"] of Detroit Township. 

I was employed to make the survey, and Swan Anderson and 
Russel Davis, a nephew of Mrs. Wilcox, were employed as my as- 
sistants. 

At the request of Judge Reynolds, who was clothed with au- 
thority to arrange for the survey of the grounds, it was decided that 
the blocks and lots, and streets and alleys should all be laid out in 
circles and winding curves, of various shapes and sizes to conform 
to the lay of the land, the driveways and walks to occupy the low- 
est ground, while the burial lots should occupy the more elevated 
locations, by which there would be a gentle slope from all the lots 
towards the alleys and walks. 

Owing to the intricate nature of the survey in la\ing out so 
many curves and circles the progress of the work was slow and 
tedious. A large part of the ground was covered with dense hazel 
brush, which also hindered the progress of the survey, so that two 
weeks were required to complete the work, but the plat of the 
survey made a beautiful map when finished. I wonder if the plat 
is still in existence. 

The first memorial service ever held in Detroit, I think, was held 
in a grove on these cemetery grounds, on the 30th of May, 1874. I 
was engaged in this survey at the time, but suspended my work for 
awhile and listened to an address delivered by Judge O. P. Stearns, 
of Duluth. The only other person I now remember as being present 
on that occasion was Miss Amelia Brigham, now ]\Irs. J. H. Suther- 
land, who was then the teacher of the Detroit school. She was one 
of the singers. 

To the best of my recollection there were no graves there at that 
time to decorate, but there were two or three in the neighborhood 
that received appropriate attention. 

The burial of the dead in the new cemetery began immediately 
after it was surveyed, but as it was not enclosed for several years 
the stakes at the corners of the lots were knocked down, or had 
rotted away so that by 1880 but few of the lots could be located, 
and in the fall of 1882 a new survey was made by C. G. Sturtevant, 
by which all blocks, lots, streets and alleys were located on the 
right angled plan, which was much easier and more quickly done 
than laying out so many curves and circles. 

The Methodist church in Detroit was dedicated June 23d, 1879. 



A Pjonekr History of Becker County, 347 

The Shooting of Harry Byron. 

On the 2d of September, 1873, A. J. Clark shot Harry Byron, 
a saloon keeper, in the head, while engaged in a quarrel in John 
McLelland's office, inflicting a painful but not dangerous wound. 

Byron was around again in the course of a week, and Clark was 
arrested and tried for assault with a dangerous weapon, but escaped 
conviction. This shooting occurred in the building now belonging 
to M. V. B. Davis, and used by him as a shoe store. 

FIRST VILLAGE ELECTION IN DETROIT. 

The first election in the Village of Detroit was held March 3, 1881, and 
the officers elected were A. Brooks, president; George H. Johnston, E. 
G. Holmes, and James Hickey, trustees; Robert B. Carson, recorder; W. 
J. Wood, treasurer; C. P. Wilcox, assessor; C. K. Day and W. W. Ross- 
man, justice of the peace and Carlton Curry, constable. The village at 
that time included the whole township. 

The city charter was adopted February 23. 1903; election was held 
March 31, 1903, and the ofTficers elected were as follows: Mayor. E- W. 
Davis; clerk, C. G. Sturtevant; treasurer, W. J. Morrow; assessor, W. C. 
Trimlett; justices. W. W. Rossman and George W. Taylor; aldermen, 
1st Ward. James Hickey, J. T. Reed and O. P. Morton; aldermen, 2d 
Ward, Casper Wackman, A. Skeoch, Jr., and R. W. Moore; aldermen. 3d 
Ward, C. F. Snell. Frank Johnson and L. J. Norby. 

Chas. G. Sturtevant. Recorder. 



Detroit Tov^^nship and Village Separation. 

A petition of the majority of the legal voters of the township 
of Detroit having been filed with the board of county commis- 
sioners asking that a special election for said township be called for 
the purpose of voting upon the question of detaching all of said 
township except Sections 27 and 34 from the village of Detroit, the 
said board called said election accordingly, setting the same for 
Feb, 15th, 1902. The election was held on said day, and it was 
voted to detach said territory. This left the 34 sections unorganized 
territory and they were organized in the usual manner by the board 
of county commissioners, and April 5th, 1902, designated for the 
holding of the first township election. At that election J. W. Cough- 
lin was elected chairman of supervisors, and Byron Wheeler and 
Fred Riebhofif, supervisors ; James Casey, town clerk ; E. Swick, 
treasurer; John Isaacson, assessor; A. M. Hoghaug and Carl Weiss, 
justices of the peace ; John Brink and C. Kraft, constables. 



348 A PioxiiKR History oi' Becker County. 

The John Convay Murder. 

The murder of John Convay, village marshal of Detroit, occurred as 
a result of a feud existing between one John W. Kelliher. alias Big Red or 
Reddy, and one Howard, alias Bulmer, both gamblers and fancy men for 
house of ill-fame. After repeated quarrels and knock-downs these men met 
again on the evening of June 22, 1886, at a saloon in the Masonic Block 
and resumed hostilities, and finally about one o'clock in the morning of 
Wednesday, June 23, the two men, Howard being backed by a gambler 
named Frank Bennett, alias Burns, alias McCormick, met in front of the 
Masonic Block and resumed their ((uarrel; the village marshal. Convay. 
hearing the disturbance came up and attempted to quiet them; the testi- 
mony of the few who were present goes to show that the three were very 
abusive and seemingly anxious for a light; finally Bennett made a move 
toward Reddy, whereupon Reddy fired; at the shot Bennett jumped quick- 
ly to one side and fell flat on the ground, no doubt with the intention of 
misleading Big Red into the belief that he was hit, in order to prevent 
another shot being fired. The marshal seeing Bennett drop, made a rush at 
Big Red, probably with the intention of placing him under arrest, when the 
big ruffian stepped back a pace or two and taking deliberate aim at the officer 
sent a bullet crashing through his heart. Without a word poor "Jack" 
staggered and fell into the arms of Bennett. Reddy did not wait to learn 
the result of his shots, but hurried away. The fatal missile had done its 
work most effectually, having entered the breast slightly to the left, 
passing through the heart and causing instant death. The town was 
aroused and instant search for the murderer begun. Two men, John 
Boutell and George Foster were stationed near the house occupied by 
Big Red's mistress; near daybreak they heard a noise in the underbrush 
near the house and on investigation found the murderer lying on the 
ground, his coat thrown over his head; he had evidently been sleeping 
where he lay, doubtless overcome in part at least from the effects of liquor. 
He was at once placed under arrest and turned over to Sheriff J. H. Phin- 
ney, and was placed in the county jail, where he remained through the day. 

But little business was done in Detroit that day. Men were to be 
seen in small groups in every part of the town, upon the streets, in the 
stores, saloons and alley-ways earnestly discussing the tragedy, and 
the many threatening countenances were ample indications that further' 
developments might be expected, while many appeared anxious, appre- 
hensive and excited, as though waiting for and fearing some terriblei 
event. At precisely ten o'clock in the evening, several taps were made 
upon the fire bell in quick succession, and the fierce yell which immediately 
followed, breaking harshly upon the oppressive stillness, was ample evidence 
that this was the understood signal for an execution by Judge Lynch. 
Farmers for many miles around had been coming into town all day, and 
many men arrived by the evening train from points both east and west; 
the town was thronged with men and at the ringing of the bell a mass 
of humanity surged toward the court house; a sledge hammer was brought 
into use; the sheriff and jailer were overpowered and the keys to the 
jail taken from them, and Kelliher was quickly brought face to face 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 349 

with his unlawful but determined executioners; a rope was thrown over his 
head and the cry "go ahead" was given; with probably fifteen men having 
hold of the rope, and pulling with frenzied zeal the mob left the jail and 
ran wildly down the street leading west, to the house that had been 
occupied by Big Red as a bagnio, and in a twinkling the rope had been 
thrown over the limb of an oak tree, and the body of Big Red was 
swinging in the air; the victim was doubtless dead long before the tree 
was reached, or if not dead certainly unconscious. The scene was one 
of wildest confusion, but all had been done so quickly and so effectually 
that the terrible afifair could scarcely be realized, but the deed over, the 
excited crowds melted away and in a short time the village streets were 
practically deserted. 

Ghorge D. Hamilton. 



The Rev. H. C. Hamilton Dudley. 

The Rev. H. C. Hamilton Dudley was born February i8th, 182 1, 
at Vershire, Orange County, Vermont. In the spring of 1873 he 
came to Detroit as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal church 
for the northwestern part of the state. He was sent by Bishop 
Whipple and was sustained by the American Church Missionary 
Society. Mr. Dudley had formerly been a minister of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church at Johnstown, New York. 

Mr. Dudley moved to Detroit, May 2nd, 1873, and held his 
first service May 25th, in the Baptist Church. Soon after this he 
leased the property known as the Tyler's Hotel intending to hold 
services in one of the large rooms until a church could be built. A 
room was fitted up for a mission chapel. He afterwards held 
services in Peake Hall, and occasionally in the Baptist and Congre- 
gational churches. Much of his work was outside of Detroit, 
preaching at various towns along the line of the Northern Pacific 
almost daily. His last sermon was preached at Wadena while suf- 
fering from a severe cold resulting in pneumonia from which he died 
at Detroit, May 5th, 1875. 

The burial service was conducted by the Rev. Frank R. Mills- 
paugh, then rector at Brainerd, and the Rev. James Gurley, on the 
8th of May, when there was a terrific rain storm. 

For some time previous to his death, public speaking had been a 
painful task. He writes, "My lungs are bleeding every day. Like 
my old valise, I am simply a wreck." 

A few hours before his decease he said, "I have fallen with my 
armor on." 



350 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

He was buried at Detroit, but his remains were afterwards taken 
East bv his wife. One who knew him in the mission work at ]\Ioor- 
head writes, "His death was a great blow to us all. He was a 
broad-minded, whole-souled Christian gentleman." 

Mrs. West. 



The Rev. H. N. Gates. 

I was born, May 31st, 1820, at Fowler, St. Lawrence County, 
N. Y. When I was about four years old my parents moved to 
Canada, so that from the time I was four until I was twenty years 
old I was an inhabitant of Canada. In 1839, I came to New York 
State and in 1840 I began my preparation for the ministry, and 
entered Union College in 1843, and graduated in 1846. I was mar- 
ried to Miss Mary Chaney, September, 15th, 1846. She was the 
daughter of the Rev. John and Margarette Chaney and was born 
October 9th, 182 1, and died September 23rd, 1890. I studied the- 
ology at East Windsor Hill now Hartford Theological Seminary, 
and graduated in July, 1850, and entered the Home Missionary 
work immediately going to the Yankee Settlement, Iowa, now 
Edgewood, where I labored four years. 

In giving an account of the organization of the church of De- 
troit, I hardly know where to begin my narrative as it would be of 
but little public interest. Suffice it to say that my commission from 
the society was dated January ist, 1872, with instructions to con- 
tinue with the road till it should reach Puget Sound. Having con- 
ferred with Colonel Johnston, who was then in Boston, we determined 
to pitch our tent at Detroit City, then in embryo. We made our 
way to our destination and arrived at Detroit February nth, 1872. 
Our landing was literally on a snow bank, the train stopping op- 
posite Mr. Tyler's hotel to which Colonel Johnston had kindly di- 
rected us. Mr. Tyler kindly took us in for the night, but on inquiry 
if we could be boarded for two or three weeks, Mr. Tyler said it 
would be impossible for him to keep us beyond that night as his 
house was full already. On inquiry, Mr. Tyler could not think of 
any place where we could be boarded, but after diligent inquiry we 
discovered that a ]\Irs. Day would take us for a few days. So in 
the afternoon of Saturday we took up our abode for a few days 
at Mr. Day's. The next day being Sabbath, and not having an 
appointment and few knowing of our arrival, we rested at Mr. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 351 

Day's- During the week following' I looked over the field and 
made arrangements for regular preaching on each alternate Sab- 
bath, the first meeting being held in the unfinished hotel kept by- 
Mr. Roberts. With occasional interruptions, I held services at 
Detroit every alternate Sabbath, Brother Wood of the Baptist 
church, alternating with me. On the Monday following our second 
Sabbath, having failed to find any place to board in Detroit, we 
started on the back track for Brainerd, hoping to secure accommo- 
dation there, but having spent a whole day, assisted by the town 
agent we could not find any place where we could lay our heads, 
so we continued our way eastwards ; and arrived at Duluth on 
Wednesday morning. The search there for a boarding place re- 
sulted the same as at Brainerd, except that we found accommoda- 
tions at the Bay View Hotel, at the moderate rate of $18 a week. 
So I made the hotel the base of my operations, preaching at Brain- 
erd and Detroit on alternate Sabbaths. 

About the first of April, having had a little cabin erected in the 
woods, on a claim which I had made, we returned to Detroit and 
for about four months the cabin in the woods was our headquarters. 

Having proved up on my claim and the traveling into the woods 
having become very bad, we boarded at Mr. Day's while I built a 
house in the village, preaching as heretofore at Detroit and Brainerd, 
and occasionally visiting and preaching at all the points of pros- 
pective importance along the road, as at Wadena, Perham, Hobart, 
Oak Lake, Audubon, etc. 

Mrs. West. H. N. Gates. 



Reuben Reynolds. 



Reuben Reynolds was born at Covington, Genesee County, New 
York, on the 25th day of April, 1820, where he remained with his 
father's family on a farm until his sixteenth year, when they moved 
to the state of Michigan. At the age of nineteen he purchased of his 
father his time and commenced to work on a farm for small wages 
to earn sufficient money to pay his father and go to the district 
country school, and within the short period of four years had by 
his tireless industry and indefatigable labor paid his indebted- 
ness to his father and received education sufficient to enter the 
ministry of the Methodist Church, where he almost at once ac- 
quired a great reputation as an evangelist. His intense earnest- 



35^ A Pioneer History of Becker Couxtv. 

ness and great power as an extemporaneous speaker made him 
famous as a revivalist through all Michigan. 

In 1855 he came to Minnesota with his family in a covered 
wagon, and settled at Rochester in Olmstead County, where he re- 
mained until the spring of 1870, when he moved to northern Min- 
nesota, first settling" at Alexandria, from which place in 1871, he 
moved to Otter Tail City, and a little later, wdien the new land 
district was created, moved to Oak Lake, and a few months later 
to Detroit. During his residence at Oak Lake and Detroit he 
held the position of receiver in the United States Land Office. 
Judge Reynolds did not commence the study of law until after 
he was forty years of age, but aided by his studious habits and 
vast amount of general information he soon became a fine law- 
}er. and in the field of advocacy he had few equals. Governor 
Hubbard appointed him judge of the district court, wdiich posi- 
tion he held at the time of his last illness, which terminated his 
life, March 8th, 1889. 

Mrs. West. Mrs. R. Reynolds. 



Dr. Dexter J. Maltby. 

Dexter J. Maltby, M. D., the pioneer physician of Detroit, was 
the son of Calvin and Minerva (Woodward) Maltby, a native of 
Watertown, Jefferson Count}-, N. Y. He was born April 25th, 
1843. I'he Maltbys early settled in Rhode Lsland, and the great 
grandfather of Dr. Maltby was in the Revolutionary army. His 
father went into the second war with the mother country at the 
age of seventeen, and was in the battle of Sackett's Harbor, lie 
was educated in the graded schools of \A'atertown, and had begun 
the study of medicine when the Civil War broke out. In the fall 
of 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 94th New York Infantry, 
serving a part of the first two and a half years as a hospital stew- 
ard. He was in eight pitched battles, and received only one or 
two very slight wounds. At the battle of Gettysburg he was 
taken prisoner, paroled, and released at the end of three days. In 
April, 1864, Mr. Maltby went before General Casey's military 
examining board and was commissioned lieutenant, but before 
the papers reached him he was taken prisoner at the battle of 
Weldon R. R.. Petersburgh, Mrginia, and was six months in 
Libby prison and at Salisbury, X. C. On March ist. 1865, he 



A PioxERR History oi^ BkckKR County. 353 

^vas sent directly to the camp parole hospital near Annapolis, 
Md., where he had typhoid fever, and where he remained until 
after Lee's surrender. On leaving the service Lieut. Maltby 
returned to Watertown, resumed his medical studies, continuing 
them until early in 1871. At that time he received a certificate 
from a medical examining board and came directly to Detroit, 
reaching there on April 19th, 1871. At that time there were four 
tents, a frame store and log hotel in the place, and but four 
settlers in the vicinity. His practice that season was largely 
among railroad men at Oak Lake. 

He married Lizzie H. Hays of Watertown, New York, 
February 2nd, 1866. They had three children, Jay H., Mabel and 
Anna. Dr. Maltby died at Detroit on the 8th day of June, 1880. 

^iRS. West. 



Frank A. Johnson. 



Frank A. Johnson, the first station agent at Detroit, came 
West with the Northern Pacific Railroad and took a homestead 
on Section 34, and on the completion of the road to this point 
was appointed telegrapher and ticket agent of the company. 
He was considered one of the best agents in the company's 
service. He took a leading part in public matters and was 
master of the Masonic Lodge at Detroit for many years. He was 
a man of strong convictions and of honor and integrity. Mr. 
Johnson died at Detroit on the 26th of December, 1882. 



John Harding Phinney, 

John Harding Phinney was born December 28th, 1S21, at 
Champlain, Clinton County, N. Y. He was married to Martha 
Brockway, September 4th, 1867, at Rockford, Illinois, by the 
Rev. Henry N. Goodwin, to whom v/ere born five children — -May. 
Lizzie B., Eva L., Nelly L. and John H. 

He came to Becker County in 1871 and located on Summit 
Avenue, Detroit. 

John H. Phinney was very promin.ent in all social and public 
affairs. He was at first engaged in business with E. G. Holmes, 
opening the first store in the village of Detroit. He was engaged 
in various branches of trade, until his election as sherifif in the fall 



354 -^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

of 1879, which office he held for seven years. He took an active 
part in all matters of public interest and in the improvement of 
the city he was one of the foremost. In the early days the people 
endured some of the hardships of the frontier, living in real log 
houses, plastered with mud, with holes and cracks in the floors wide 
enough to see all that was going on down below. Our first tele- 
graph station was a mere rough shanty. The depot was soon built 
and immediately afterwards Bishop Whipple held his first service in 
one part of it, confirming Mrs. W. F. Ball and Mrs. George Wilson. 
Mr. Phinney died on the first day of May, 1890. 
Mrs. West. 

Mrs. J. H. Pixney. 



Colonel George Henry Johnston. 

Colonel George Henry Johnston, the founder of the town of 
Detroit, was born at Boston, Mass., May 5th, 1832, the son of 
William and Susanna Caines Johnston. His grandfather George 
Johnston came from Scotland about 1810 and settled in Boston. 
His maternal grandfather Thomas Caines came from England 
and introduced the manufacture of flint glass in this country, 
starting the enterprise in South Boston when that part of the 
city was largely devoted to cow pastures. He was educated in 
the common schools of Boston. In 1850 he began to learn from 
his father the trade of a glass manufacturer. He worked at the 
business until he became of age, and was clerk for a few years 
in the Boston post office. He started the Sufifolk glass works 
in 1855 ^^^ sold out to his father-in-law, Joshua Jenkins, who 
still carries on the business, the only works of that kind now 
in operation in the city (1879). ^^ May, 1861, Mr. Johnston 
entered the army as ist Lieutenant of Company "E," ist 
Massachusetts Infantry and was promoted to adjutant after the 
first battle of Bull Run. In 1862 by appointment of the 
President, he was promoted to captain and adjutant general, 
and a little later was promoted to lieutenant colonel and adjutant 
general for gallantry at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Glendale and 
Malvern Hill. He was in thirty-two engagements and received 
only two very slight wounds. He was honorably mentioned 
four times by the commanding officer for bravery and skillful 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 355 

maneuvering on different occasions, and was breveted colonel 
at the close of the war. He resigned a short time before Lee's 
surrender on a surgeon's certificate of disability. After recover- 
ing, Colonel Johnston was in trade for a short time at Norfolk, 
Va., then returned to Boston and engaged in the building and 
real estate business. In 1871, he came to Minnesota to select 
lands for the New England Colony and after extensive examina- 
tions selected 10,000 acres in Becker County, buying all the odd 
numbered sections in Detroit Township. In 1874 Colonel 
Johnston built a flour mill on Pelican River, one mile from 
town and was in the mercantile business in Detroit for about 
one year, selling out in the fall of 1877. He was in the city 
council of Boston for several years, but in Minnesota he kept 
out of political office. For two years he was department com- 
mander of the G. A. R., at Detroit, resigning in 1877. He was 
a trustee of the Baptist Church, Detroit. He married Aman- 
da M., daughter of Joshua Jenkins, Feb. i8th, 1859. G. H. John- 
ston was connected with Suffolk glass works and ran for mayor 
of Boston on the Prohibition ticket. He was a policeman in 
South Boston for some time, and went to the front with the ist 
Massachusetts Regiment and made $25,000 in trading with the 
rebels. The foregoing was given to me by Henry S. Jenkins, of 
Boston. December loth, 1892. 
Mrs. Jessie C. West. 

DIED IN HIS CHAIR, IN MINNEAPOLIS. 

Saturday, April 27. 1889. Col. George H. Johnston, who has for some 
time been affected by heart trouble, died suddenly at 7:15 last evening at 
his residence, 2023 Stevens avenue. He was sitting at the supper table, 
when he fell back and died instantly. 

Col. Johnston was prominently known in Masonic and Grand Army 
circles in the state, and was past grand commander of the state G. A. R. 

Col. Johnston was a man of literary tastes, an excellent parliamentar- 
ian, and well known as an extemporaneous speaker. He was prominently 
connected with the Republican party of this state, having been a member 
of the state central committee and chairman of the memorable convention 
of the fifth district which nominated Kindred for congress. — Minneapolis 
Tribune. 



George Wilson. 



George Wilson was identified with the history of Detroit, 
building and opening the Wilson House in 1872 and retained 
possession until his death. 



356 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

lie was an active and honored member of Alt. Tabor Lodge, 
joining in 1873, and there are but one resident and two non-resi- 
dent members who have l)een so long in fellowship with this or- 
der. He served during the Civil War for four years in the 28th 
New York and 43d Indiana Infantry, and at the close of the war 
for three years in the regular army. He was an honored member 
of F. C. Choate Post, G. A. R., at the time of his death. Few 
men were so well known in the countr}- as ^Ir. Wilson who by 
his Cjuiet, unassuming manner, integrity and steady industrious 
life, made countless friends. — Detroit Record. 

Mr. W ilson was a native of Canada, and died on the 6th dav 
of December, 1895, in the 53d year of his age. Mrs. Wilson and 
a son, Frank Wilson, still survive. 

Mrs. Wilson is a full blood native American woman, and 
enjoys a distinction of which any person might well be proud ; 
of being a niece of both Hole-in-the-day and ^^'hite Cloud, two 
celebrated chiefs of the Chippewa nation. 



Capt. Isaac M. Thomas. 

Capt. I. AI. Thomas was born in the county of Cardigan, 
Wales, on Christmas Day in the year 1823. and came to America 
in the year i86r. He was for several years in the cop]:)er region 
on the south shore of Lake Superittr. He came to Becker Coun- 
ty in the spring of 1871 and his family came to Detroit on the 5th 
of June, the same year. He will be remembered as the man who 
ran the water tank and pumped the water for the Xorthern Pacific 
Railroad Company for more than twent}' }-ears. He died on 
the 1 2th of February, 1896. 



Charles Wocdman Dix. 

Charles W'oodman Dix was a native of Boston, Mass., where 
he was born July 26th, 185 1. He lived with his parents in Bos- 
ton until 22 years of age, wdien on account of poor health he 
came to Detroit and resided here until his death ; he was engag- 
ed in mercantile trade here for manv \ears ; was postmaster for 
about ten years : has held various public positions of trust and 
responsibility, and in 1896 was elected for the third term as vil- 
lage recorder. ( )n June 17th, 1877, he was united in marriage 



A PioNiJER History of Becker County. 357 

to Lillie E. \\ood, (laughter of the Rev. J. E. Wood, the pioneer 
minister of the gospel of this entire section of country. He was 
a member of the Unitarian Society of this village and has been 
one of the active members of that society for years. He was 
one of the pioneer members of Alt. Tabor Lodge. A. F. & A. 
M.. in which he always took great interest, and of which he was 
past master. Socially Air. Dix has always enjoyed great popular- 
itv, being personally known to nearly every resident of the coun- 
tv. Air. Dix died on the 27th day of August. 1896. 

George D. Hamilton. 



Joseph E. Furber. 

Air. Furber was one of the pioneers of Detroit, and no man 
was more highly esteemed than he, in this community. A native 
of AVolfborough, N. H., where he was born Alay 13. 1840, he was 
among the great army who cast their fortunes in the West soon 
after t'lie war, and in 1868 he settled in the then small town of Alin- 
neapolis, afterwards going to Chicago, where he remained about 
two years; later to Afilwaukee, from which city he came to De- 
troit' where, in partnership with Geo. N. Seaman, he engaged in 
the mercantile business in 1875, estabhshing the business in 
wdiich he has ever since been engaged, though several changes 
have taken place in the personnel of the firm, which, at the time 
of his death consisted of Joseph E. and his brother James C. Fur- 
ber. He was a conservative business man, Init invariably honor- 
able, and during the nearly quarter of a century in which he was 
engaged in trade here we doubt if a question can be raised as to 
the fairness of the treatment which any patron has received at 
his hands. Joe Furber, as he was familiarly known, was one of 
those men who leave many friends, no enemies, and none to say 
aught but that which is in his praise. He was a single man, and 
for years made his home with his aged mother and his two sis- 
ters, the Alisses Bessie and Eva Furber. 

Air. Furber died at Detroit, on the 2st of Alarch. 1897.— Z^c- 
froif Record. 

AIrs. West. 

Samuel N. Horneck. 

Samuel N. Horneck was a native of Ireland, born in Old Ross, 
County of Wexford, November 13th, 1826, the son of John and 
Sarah' (Boyce) Horneck. He came to America in 1848 and went 



358 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

to Buffalo, N. Y., where he engaged in mercantile business, re- 
maining there nineteen years. He went to Franklin, Pennsylvania 
and from there came to Detroit, Minnesota, in 1873. He was ap- 
pointed postmaster by Cleveland in 1885. He married Anna 
E. Mooney, daughter of G. V. and Eliza (Shaw) Mooney of 
Buffalo, N. Y., December 12th, 1854. He had one son Philip, 
who died in 1892. Mr. Horneck died April 6, 1900. — Detroit 
Record. 

Mrs. West. 



Mrs. Jessie C. West. 

Mrs. Jessie C. West was born on the 9th day of January, 1849. 
Her life began amid those best associations which have hallowed 
so many a New England home, and there her early years were 
spent, surrounded by the beauty of Berkshire hill and vale of which 
she was never tired of speaking. 

At Pontoosuc, a suburb of Pittsfield. Mass., she first saw the 
light of God's world, the fourth daughter of George and Matilda 
Campbell ; and only a few years passed ere she became a member 
of the Congregational Church of Pittsfield under the pastoral care of 
the Rev. Dr. John Todd, a pastor whose memory she lovingly 
cherished through all the years of her life. 

She came to Detroit with her husband, John K. AA'est. in 
October, 1881, and spent the remainder of her days in that village. 

Mrs. West was a woman of refinement of mind and heart, 
possessing considerable will-power in facing and overcoming ob- 
stacles and difficulties, and a buoyancy of spirit which brightened 
thought and act and made an atmosphere of light around her. She 
loved her home and all about her. 

Externally an attractive and comfortal^le looking house, stand- 
ing in its well ke])t grounds, you no sooner entered the Oaken- 
wald residence, and looked into the eyes of its mistress, saw her 
cheery smile and heard the ringing of her voice, than you were 
conscious that the true home spirit dwelt there. 

When she came to Detroit there was much mission work to 
be done, and she at once entered into it heart and soul. During 
her first year there she helped to organize seven Sunday schools, 
one of which became a flourishing church. She was in full sym- 
pathy with the work of the Salvation Army and was a frequent 
contributor of funds for their support. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 359 

This work and her missionary labors required much journey- 
ing in the neighborhood, and in this she found recreation. She 
loved the country-side ; hill and vale, lake and forest each had 
its charms for her. Skillful in handling a team, with a companion 
of her travels she was often on the road, and was ever welcome 
when they drew into some farmer's yard or stopped at some hum- 
ble dwelling, either among the white settlers or among the Indians 
on the White Earth Reservation. — Memorial Booklet 

Mrs. West took a deep interest in the settlement of Becker 
County and in the growth of Detroit City. With the help of Mrs. 
J. H. Sutherland, she was the organizer and the historian of 
the Pioneer Settlers' Union of Becker County, and during her 
last years was the life and soul of that organization. She had 
long been engaged in collecting and arranging material for a 
history of Becker County, and it is doubtful if such a history 
would have been published for years to come had it not been for 
the zeal and energy of Mrs. West in giving it a beginning. The 
material collected by her was the nucleus around which the pres- 
ent work has grown to completion. 

She was Becker County's representative at the Columbian Ex- 
position at Chicago in 1893. 

Mrs. West died on the 25th day of January, 1903, and was 
buried amons: her native Berkshire Hills. 



William C. Roberts. 

William C. Roberts was a native of Boston, Mass., where 
he was born May 12, 1835, ^''^'^l received his education in that city, 
where he attended school until he was 16 years of age. After 
completing his education he engaged in the commission and fruit 
business in Boston, until the outbreak of the war. In 1862 he 
enlisted in the 44th Massachusetts Infantry, and after serving 
nine months as a private he was promoted to the rank of sec- 
ond lieutenant for bravery at the battle of Rawles Mills, N. C. 
He was assigned to the 55th Massachusetts Colored Infantry 
and remained in that regiment from 1863 until September, 1865. 
He was promoted to first lieutenant in June, 1864, and later to 
the rank of captain, and at the close of the war was presented 
with a brevet commission by the President. He participated in 
many battles and skirmishes. The 55th was the first regiment 



360 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

to enter Charleston, at the evacuation. In front of Charleston, on 
Folly Island, he received a sunstroke and contracted malarial fever. 
He was detached from his regiment and sent to Branchville, S. C, 
with his company in June, 1865, where he had charge of the contracts 
between the planters and the negroes. He was mustered out with his 
regiment in September, 1865, at Charleston, when he returned to Bos- 
ton and engaged in business. He remained in that city until 1871, and 
during that time he was a member of the Boston city council. 
He was connected with different military organizations of the 
city, and was one of the committee on building the army and 
navy monument on Boston Common. 

In 1 87 1 Capt. Roberts removed with a Boston colony to Min- 
nesota and settled in Detroit. He erected the first hotel in 
this village, known as the "New England House." which for 
many years figured prominently in the affairs of the town. The 
house, rebuilt, still stands and is known as the Waldorf. Mr. 
Roberts assisted in laying out the original plat of the town. 

Capt. Roberts was married on May 7, 1866. to ]\Iiss Mary F. 
Bowker, and to them were born sixteen children fourteen of whom 
are living. Last fall, Mr. Roberts entered the soldiers' home 
where he thought to spend his last years in ease and quiet, 
but the end came much quicker than he expected, and he died in the 
home in which he so richly deserved a place on Dec. 25, 1904. — 
Detroit Record. 



George W. Taylor. 

George W. Taylor was born in \'ermont on the loth day of 
July, 1833. In 185 1 he married Miss Sarah A. Ashley who died 
at Detroit on the 15th of August, 1905. 

Mr. Taylor came to Detroit with his family in 1876, which 
village he made his home during the rest of his life. He was 
for several years connected with the Minnesota Agricultural 
Society, and was for a long time a justice of the peace in Detroit. 

Mr. Taylor died at Detroit on the 8th day of October, 1905, 
survived by two daughters, Mrs. George Dimond and Mrs. 
Everett Davis, both of Detroit. — Detroit Record. 



A PiOiXEER History of Bkckkr County. 361 

Carlton Curry. 

Carlton Curry was a native of Ontario, Canada, where he was 
born July loth. 1826. 

]\Ir. Curr}- came to I\Iinnc^^ota in 1856, settling;- in ( )lnistea(l 
Count}'. In 1864 he enlisted in Company C, 9th Minn. Inf. in 
which he served until the close of the war and he was honorably 
discharged June 2d, 1865. 

Mr. Curry came to Detroit May 26ih, 1873, and he has lived 
here continuously for thirty-two years. For many years he was 
engaged in the liver}' business, in which he was the pioneer in 
this section. He was, until \ery recent years, a man of robust 
constitution, and he was a prominent figure in the early history 
of the town. For many }'ears, and in the strenuous pioner days 
of the village, he was the peace officer of the town in the capac- 
ity of marshal, for which he was exceptionally well cjualified. 
He died in the Swedish hospital, in Minneapolis, on Saturday, 
March 25th, 1905. — Detroit Record. 



Rev. John E. Wood. 

John E. A\"ood w^as a native of Gloucester. Rhode Island, 
where he was born April 14th, 1825. His youth and young man- 
hood were spent in the vicinity of his birthplace. In 1850, at 
Mystic, Conn., he married Miss Annie E. Burrows, wdio with 
two sons and a daughter survive him. They are W. J. Wood 
and Mrs. L. E. Dix, of this city, and F. E. Wood, of Bucklin, 
Kans. Another daughter, Mrs. May Johnston, died in Califor- 
nia several years ago. 

At the age of twenty-five years Mr. Wood entered the minis- 
try, and in this calling" he successfully directed his energies for 
nearly half a century. He held a number of pastorates in his 
native state, and in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Early in 
his career his attention was turned in the direction of politics, he 
being elected a member of the Massachusetts legislature in 1855 ; 
but after serving one term he returned to the pulpit and was 
thereafter called to the pastorates of Xew Bedford. Providence 
and Groton. 

Early in the year 1862, when it became apparent that the 
civil war was to be more than a passing unpleasantness, and the 
president called for 300,000 more men to defend the Union, John 
E. Wood took such action as has been characteristic of his whole 



362 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



life. He had been stationed at Groton, Conn., for several years, and 
we quote from a local newspaper of that time the following which 
shows his capacity, in his young and vigorous manhood, as a man of 
action and a leader of those with whom he was associated. The 
article referred to recites the prompt action on the part of the 




REV. J. E. WOOD. 



citizens of Groton in raising their cpiota in res])()nse to the Presi- 
dent's call, and adds : 

The war commiUee called on Rev. John E. Wood, a popular Baptist 
minister of the town, whose patriotism and proverbial energy were well 
known, to open a recruiting office to insure men of the right stamp. Par- 
son Wood, after sleeping over the proposition one night, concluded the call 
of his country was the call of God; he left his flock, flung out the stars 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 363 

and stripes at Mystic, and the last we heard of him he had 100 men, the 
best blood of Groton, if physical bearing and the highest social, moral and 
religious standing have any weight. Rev. Mr. Wood, when his company 
was full, was unanimously chosen captain and enters the 21st regiment with 
the benediction of a multitude of admiring friends, and we believe they will 
not disappoint their expectations. 

Mr. Wood went to the front with his regiment, the 21st 
Connecticut, and the following year he was dicharged for dis- 
ability, by order of Major General Sumner, near Falmouth, Va., 
and thereafter he resumed his pastoral work in New England, 
in which he continued until 1871. 

With the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad a new 
empire was to be opened. This frontier work appealed to Mr. 
Wood and his exceptional qualifications for effective service be- 
ing recognized he was appointed missionary for the Baptist so- 
ciety, his field covering the entire line of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. He came with his family to Duluth in 1871, and ever 
since that time he has been identified with the growth and devel- 
opment of the Northwest. As Northern Pacific missionary, 
which position he held for three years, until 1874, he established 
churches at many of the towns as they sprung up along the line 
of the railroad, among these being Brainerd and Detroit. On 
July 2d, 1872, he removed to Detroit with his family and estab- 
lished his church there, at that time the frontier of civilization and 
progress in the new Northwest. 

In 1874 he was appointed general missionary for the Baptist 
church in Minnesota, continuing in that capacity until 1878. In 
the years following his work was varied. He was called to the 
pastorate of the Detroit church, and later to that of St. Cloud, 
and in whatever field his lot was cast he was an earnest laborer 
and a tower of strength in the cause of his Master. 

He performed the first marriage ceremony ever solemnized 
in Becker County, in October, 187 1, and he has probably joined in 
wedlock more people than any other minister in this state. 

Mr. Wood died at Detroit on the ist of February, 1905. 

George D. Hamilton. 



William W. Rossmas. 
Wm. W. Rossman was born in Clinton County, New York, 
Aug. 27th, 1829. His mother was a sister of Bishop Hedding 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His youth and young man- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 365 

hood were spent in his native state where he was employed in his 
father's woolen mill, and later took up the trade of millwright. 
In 1853 he came West, locating in Wisconsin, where he remained 
three years, then removing to Glencoe, Minnesota. On the out- 
break of the Indian war he took part in that conflict, afterwards 
serving as a private in Company E, 153rd Indiana Infantry for seven 
months, and was discharged on account of poor health. On the 
29th of May, 1870, he came to Becker County and located in Lake 
Eunice Township and came to Detroit three or four months 
afterwards and took a government homestead on the east half 
of the northwest quarter of Section 34 of that township, on what 
now comprises a large part of the residence portion of the city. 
During his long residence in Detroit Mr. Rossman held various 
county, village and city ofifices, and took a prominent part in the 
progress of the town during its pioneer period. He was most 
congenial by nature, and made friends of all with wdiom he came 
in contact. 

Mr. Rossman was for many years a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, and also of the G. A. R. post from the time of its or- 
ganization. 

Mr. Rossman was married at Glencoe in 1858 to Mary Jane 
McClelland, who with four children, one son and three daugh- 
ters survive him. 

The family lived here over thirty years, and removed to Spo- 
kane two years ago. His son Frank Rossman has for the last 
twenty years been an esteemed citizen of Park Rapids, Hubbard 
County. 

Mr. Rossman died at Spokane Falls, Wash., on the 8th day of 
July, 1906. 

Myla Seamans Converse. 

Myla Seamans Converse was born in Schroon, Essex County. 
New York, March 19th, 1843. Mr. Converse was a descendant 
of Deacon Edward Converse the minister in charge of the con- 
gregation that was brought to this country by Gov. John Winthrop. 
in 1620 as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and is of 
Norman French descent. Pie moved with his father, in March, 
i860, to Webster, Mass.. where he was employed in S. S. Slater 
and Son's woolen mill till 21st of May, 1861. He enlisted for 
three years or during the war in Company I, 15th ^Massachusetts 



366 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Volunteers, and served throughout the war. The first engage- 
ment in which he participated was the battle of Ball's Bluff, 
V^a., in October, 1861. In that battle his brother William Frank- 
lin Converse was captured, and afterward died in Libby Prison, 
Richmond, Va. In March, 1862, the regiment in which Myla S. 
Converse was enlisted went to Harper's Ferry, Va., crossed the 




M. S. CONVERSE. 



Potomac at Harper's Ferry and went to Winchester, Va., with 
General Shields. After General Stonewall Jackson was driven 
out of Winchester, his division. Gen. John Sedgewick in com- 
mand, returned to Washington ; took steamers at Washington, 
going down the Potomac to Fortress Monroe, Va. From Vir- 
ginia they went to Yorktown where the division was assigned 
to the Second Army corps then commanded by Gen. E. V. Sum- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 367 

ner. After the evacuation of Yorktown they went to West Point, 
Va., on the York River, by steamers, where they disembarked 
and had an engagement with the enemy. From there they took 
the boat again and went to White House Landing where they dis- 
embarked, crossed the peninsula to the Chickahominy where 
they took part, together with the First Minnesota, in building the 
great Grape Vine Bridge on which General Sumner moved his 
corps across to the opposite side of the river to reinforce the left 
wing of the General Casey's army on the 31st of May, 1862, dur- 
ing the battle of Fair Oaks. In this engagement about four 
o'clock in the afternoon, the 15th Massachusetts arrived on the 
field and immediately became engaged. At about half past four 
Converse was severely wounded in his right thigh, the thigh 
bone being broken, and just as he was to be carried from the 
field he received another wound through the right hand. He 
was sent back with others of the wounded to White House 
Landing where he took a steamer for Philadelphia. He was 
in a hospital on Wood Street near 226. Street from about the 6th 
or 7th day of Jime, 1862, until the latter part of July when he 
received a furlough and went home for thirty days. 

He reported again to his company for duty at Sharpsburg, 
Va., on the morning after the battle of Antietam. From there he 
went with the Army of the Potomac to Falmouth, Va., where his 
regiment participated in the battle of Frederick City, Va., fought by 
General Burnside. After this engagement the wound in the leg 
gave Mr. Converse some trouble in regard to marching, and he 
enlisted in the First L'nited States Cavalry, under an order from 
the AA'ar Department, for the term of three years. He was as- 
signed to Company E. He accompanied the company to the front 
where the first Cavalry was assigned to what is known as the Re- 
served Brigade of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, 
then commanded by General Stoneman. Their first engagement 
was at Kellysford, Va., on the 17th day of March, 1863. This was 
at the beginning of General Stoneman's raid. Their other engage- 
ments were at Beverly's Ford, June loth, 1863 ; Goose Creek, June 
19th; Upperville, June 21st; Gettysburg, July 3rd; Williamsport, 
Md., July 6th: Boonesville, July 8th: Falling Water. July 15th; 
Manassas Gap, Md., July 21st; Brandy Station. August ist, and 
August 3rd: at Mine Run, Va., Dec. 5th: on General Custer's 
raid, Feb. 28th and 29th, 1864: at Spottsylvania, May 7th; in the 



368 A ProNEER History of Becker County. 

Wilderness, Ya.., Alay 8th ; on General Sheridan's raid, MaY 9th 
to 14th; at Beaver Dam, ATay loth ; Yellow Tavern, Mav nth: 
Chickahominv River, May 12th, (here again he received another 
slight wound on his right arm just below the shoulder, which, 
however, did not lay him up from service); Horseshoe Shop 
May 28th; at Cold Harbor, May 30th and 31st; at Brevilian Sta- 
tion, June 1 2th ; at Deep Bottom, July 2Sth ; at Newton, Aug. 12th 
Sheperdstown, Aug. 29th; at Winchester, Sept. 19th ; at Willford, 
Sept. 23rd ; at Waynesboro. Sept. 28th ; at Edinburgh. Oct. 8th 
and 9th ; at Cedar Creek, Oct. 19th ; on the Gordonsville raid, 
Dec. 20th to 28th; on the Loudon \'alle}' raid, Jan. 5th to 8th, 
1865 ; at Waynesburgh, Mar. 21st ; Dinwiddie Court-House March 
30th; at Five Forks, \^a., April ist, April 2d and April 3(1, i8f)5; 
at Evergreen Station, April 8th ; at the surrender of General Lee's 
army of Appomattox, April 9th, 1865. 

These engagements are copied frc^m the back of his discharge, 
which discharge he received from Company E. first United States 
Cavalry, approved l)y A. G. l^rackett. Colonel commanding first 
United States Cavalry, also attested and approved by Major Gen- 
eral Philip S. Sheridan, commanding Department of the Gulf. 

He was detailed in the spring of 1865, just before the surren- 
der of Lee's army, to report to General Sheridan's headquarters, 
then being a sergeant of Company E, to take command of orderlies : 
went from A\'ashington to New Orleans with General Sheridan 
when he went down to take command of the Department of the 
Gulf. He was mustered out at New Orleans on the 17th day of 
December, 1865. 

He came to Becker County in the spring of 1872 and settled 
in Lake Eunice Township where he resided for many years. 

His first wife to whom he was married on December 26, i860, 
was Mary Emerson of Thompson, Connecticut, who died in Lake 
Eunice, February 27th. 1881. 

He held the office of military storekeeper during the adminis- 
tration of Governors Nelson and Clough when he was displaced 
by Gov. Lind on the first of January, 1899. 

Mr. Converse was married the second time to Mrs. Grace 
Nuttle on the 24th day of June, 1883. 

The last few years of his life were spent in the village of De- 
troit where he died on the 9th of November. 1905. He leaves 
surviving him his wife and two sons. Philip S. Converse, present 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 369 

register of deeds, Becker Co., Minn. ; W. F. Converse, assistant 
chief deputy inspector of grain, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Philip S. Converse. 



James T. Bestick. 

James T. Bestick was born October i6th, 1840, at Henderson, 
Granville county, North Carolina. He moved to Massachusetts 
when about five years old, settling in South Braintree. He re- 
ceived his education in the common schools of that town, nuit- 
ting school at the age of fifteen and went to work in a boot manu- 
facturing shop. Was a member of the Braintree Light Infantry, 
Company C, 4th regiment AI. V. M. At the breaking out of the 
rebellion he went with his regiment to Fortress Monroe. Leav- 
ing home April i6th, 1861, he arrived at Fortress Monroe and 
went on guard April 20th. Went from Fortress Monroe to New 
Port News and after serving three months returned home and 
remained at home about a year. August 6th, 1862, he re-enlisted 
in Company E, 14th Massachusetts, afterwards the ist Mass. H. 
A. He took part in all the campaigns of his regiment until June 
22nd, 1864, when before Petersburg he was captured and about 
two hundred of his regiment were taken by way of Pjelle Isle, 
Libby Prison, Lynchburg and Danville, to Andersonville, arriv- 
ing there July 12th, 1864, and was removed from Andersonville 
to Florence, S. C, in September, 1864. He remained a prisoner 
until February 26lh, 1865, when he was paroled at Wilmington, 
N. C. He v/as sent home and discharged at Boston, March 30, 
1865. During his incarceration he was reduced in weight from 
^53 to 98 poiuids, was nearly blind and afflicted with scurvv. Be- 
fore enlisting the second time he was married to Miss Hannah 
W. Raymond, leaving his wife at home with his parents. After 
partly recovering his health he went to work at his old trade. In 
the spring of 1872 he removed with his family to Detroit, Min- 
nesota, arriving here April 9, 1872. He built a small house and 
moved into it early in June and claimed to be the first man to 
move into a dwelling house on the original townsite of Detroit. 
He took up the business of shoemaking which he followed for 
a number of years. After coming to Detroit he has followed 
various avocations, shoe making, carpenter, cooper, was in the 
grain warehouse with J. H. Phinney and was his deputy sheriff 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 371 

I for three years. He held various offices of trust : supervisor, con- 

stable, assessor, v^'as a member of the board of education for elev- 
ij en years, deputy clerk of court under L. C. McKinstry, deputy 

I auditor under A\'. J. ^Morrow, and in the fall of 1892 was elected 

j judge of probate of the county, re-elected in 1894 without op- 

position. He was superintendent of the Oak Grove cemetery 
from its organization in 1883 until his health failed. He was a 
member of the Lakeside band from its organization until 1890. 
He was a charter member of Lakeside Lodge 105, L O. O. F. 
He became a member of the G. A. R. in 1867 and retained his 
membership ever since until his death which occurred the 22nd 
of August, 1906. 

James T. Bestick is survived by his wife, one son, Elmer J. 
Bestick, of this city, and one daughter, Mrs. Chas. Liscom, of 
Kansas City. 

George D. Hamit,ton. 





CHRISTEN ANDERSON. 



PAUL C. SLETTEN. 





MRS. BKEDE ANDERSON. 



OLE PETERSON. 



A PioNKiJR History of Buckkr County. 373 

Chapter XXII. 

HISTORY OF AUDUBON TOWNSHIP. 

By Petkr a. O. PktersoxX. 

The first settlers in Aiululjon Township, were Christen An- 
derson, John F. Beaver and Fred. Johnson. Beaver and Ander- 
son were both married men and their wives came with them, and 
they were tlie first white women to settle in what is now Audu- 
bon Township. There was also an infant girl in the Anderson 
family when they came. Her name is Annie. 

Neither the township or section lines had been run in this 
part of the county, so none of these settlers had any means of 
knowing what section they were living on for a whole year. 

These three settlers came to this township on the 28th of June, 
1869. 

Christ. Anderson took what is now the west half of the west 
half of Section 6; John Beaver the east half of the southwest 
quarter and the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 6; 
Fred Johnson located on the southeast quarter of Section 7. 

Soon after this time a man by the name of Talmage, a single 
man of eccentric character squatted on what is now Section 20, 
and after living there less than a year in a dugout, left the coun- 
try. 

( )n the 6th of September. 1869, Buckley B. Anderson came in- 
to the township with his wife and a family of eight children, five 
of whom were fully grown, and settled on what are now Sec- 
tions 17 and 20. The oldest daughter of the Andersons, who is 
the wife of Jackson Burdick came with her husband and three 
children in the same party with the Andersons. Burdick took 
his land also on Sections 17 and 20. 

B. B. Anderson opened u]) a store about the first of November, 
1870. at his residence, which was the first store in what is now 
Audubon Township. Harvey Jones who came with the xA^nder- 
son's located on the southeast quarter of Section 18. Jones soon 
afterwards sold his improvements to David Beverage who came 
sometime in the fall of 1869. and took another claim on Section 
34, in Lake Park Township, about a year afterwards. 



374 -"^ Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

Dr. David Pyle took a claim which inchided a part of Sections 
i6 and 17 and brought his family in the spring of 1870. 

M. L. Devereaux was in this township during the winter of 
1869 and 1870 but took a homestead on Section 10 of Lake Park 
the next year. His land is now a part of the celebrated Canfield 
farm. 

The following settlers came to Audubon Township in about 
the order in which they are named : 

Elling Carlson, Section 6, June 20th, 1870; Gunder Carlson, 
Section 6. June 20th. 1870; Martinus Johnson, Section 9, June 
23rd, 1870; Sevald Reep, Section 5, June 24th, 1870; Jens Simon- 
son, Section 16, June 24th, 1870; Andrew Jensen, Section 17 
June 24th, 1870; Simon Jensen, Section 16, June 24th, 1870: I. 
T. Knudson, Section 16, June 25th, 1870; Chris. Olson, Section 
18, June 26th. 1870; Ole Peterson, Section 4, June 30th, 1870; 
Peter A. O. Peterson, Section 4, June 30th, 1870; John O. John- 
son, Section 30. June 30th, 1870; Andrew Olson, Section 16, 
July 4th, 1870; Jacob Anderson, Section 13, July 6th, 1870; Erick 
P. Skeim, Section 15, July 6th, 1870; Louis Thompson, Section 14. 
July 6th, 1870; Martha M. Quigne, Section 14, July 6th, 1870; 
Brede Arneson, Section 14, July 15th, 1870; Ole Larson, Section 
23, July, 1870; Gustave Erickson, Section 27, Aug. 28th, 1870; 
Lars Knudson, Section 34, Aug. 28th, 1870; Joseph R. Marshall, 
Section 30, Aug. 28th, 1870; William Robinson, Section 30, Aug., 
1870; Walter R. Gregory, Section 20, Aug., 1870; Moody Cook, 
Section i, 1870; A. M. Beaver, Section 6, Sept. ist, 1870; John 
Gulbranson, Section 8, Sept. ist, 1870; Henry J. Larson, Section 
10, Oct. 8th, 1870; Paul C. Sletten, Section 24, 1870; Guy Good- 
rich, Section 24, March, 1871 ; John Cook, Section 22, April, 1871 ; 
F. K. Small, Section 16, April, 1871 ; L. C McKinstry, Section 12, 
April 25th, 1871 ; James G. McGrew, Section 10, May ist, 1871 ; 
Rasmus Boyer, Section 6. May ist. 1871 ; Hans H. GHnstad, 
Section 26, June, 1871 ; Gilbert Rosten, Section 26, June 15th. 
1871 ; Jacob Fargerlie, Section 26, June 15th, 1871 ; Halver Grunt, 
Aug., 1871 ; Ole Danielson, Section 28; A. S. Danielson, Section 
28; William McKinstry, Jr., Section 12, June, 1871 ; T. Longtine, 
Section 31, 1871 ; William P. McKinstry, Sr., Sept. 10, 1871 ; Sivert 
Reep, 1871 ; John Larson, Section 2, 1871 ; Carl Stave, Section 24, 
1871 ; Ole Boardson, Section 12, 1871 : P. P. Wall, Section 12, 
May 1st, 1871; Willis Smith, Section 2, 1871 : Malcolm McDonald, 



A PioxEER History of Becker Couxty. 375 

Section 2, 1871 ; Olof Erickson, Section 28, 1871 ; Nels N. Elton, 
Section 21, May 22nd, 1872; Michael Oschner, Sept., 1873. 

Elling Carlson, who was one of the first to come into the town- 
ship in the snmmer of 1870, selected his claim and returned to 
his former home, leaving his brother, Gunder Carlson in charge 
of both claims and remained away until the spring of 1871 when 
he returned to Section 6 of this township with his family. 

Andrew Olson's family did not arrive until the spring of 1871. 

Christen Anderson one of the first three settlers of this town- 
ship was born in Norway, February 19th, 1835, came to xA.merica 
in 1865, and died about the 20th of November, 1906. 

John Beaver was about the same age of Chris. Anderson, but 
came to America several years sooner and was a soldier in our 
Civil War. He was a member of the first board of county com- 
missioners of Becker County, and was the first clerk of the dis- 
trict court elected by the people. 

Mr. Beaver died of consumption May 17th, 1873. 

Fred Johnson was born in Norway, and came to the United 
States when young. He is still living in the township. 

Sevald Reep was born in Norway on the 13th day of Febru- 
ary, 1835, came to America in 1866. He died May 4th, 1879. 

The first child born in Audubon Township was Olaus Reep, 
son of Sevald Reep, who was born on the 29th day of July, 1870. 

The first death in the township was that of Mrs, John F. 
Beaver, who died about the first of March, 1870. 

The first marriage in the township was that of John Mason 
to Annie L. Larson, who were married at Oak Lake Cut on the 
30th day of January, 1872, by James G. McGrew, justice of the 
peace. Mason was a saloon keeper and afterwards lived for sev- 
eral years at Lake Park. 

The first school in the township was taught by Nancy M. 
Comstock in the fall of 1871 in a log building on the land of 
Henry Way on Section 20. 

On the 30th of September, 1871, the board of county commis- 
sioners declared all of Township 139. Range 42, or w'hat is now 
Audubon Township, established or created into one school dis- 
trict, to be known as School District No. i. The legal voters 
of the district proceeded to organize by electing a board of school 
officers and hired a school teacher who began a term of school 



376 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

that fall, it being the first school taught in Becker County, out- 
side the White Earth Reservation. 

It was afterwards discovered that the creation of the school 
district was illegal, as there had been no petition presented to the 
board, and the creation of the district was annulled, and Detroit 
Township made District Xo. i. 

The township was organized on the 19th day of August. 1871. 
and the first tow^nship election was held at the house of John F. 
Beaver at that date. 

Walter R. Gregory was chosen moderator, and John Cook and 
B. B. Anderson judges of election. They were sworn in by 
David Pyle, a Notary Public. 

The following township officers were elected: 

A\\ R. Gregory, chairman of board of supervisor;^ : David 
Pyle, John Cook, supervisors ; Henry J. Larson, town clerk ; Buck- 
ley B. Anderson, assessor; Guy H. Goodrich, treasurer; Jacob 
Anderson, F. K. Small, constables ; James G. McGrew, Henry 
Way, justices of the peace. 

The township was organized under the name of Windom ; in 
January, 1872, changed to Colfax; in September, 1872, changed 
to Oak Lake and on January 2d, 1881, changed to Audubon. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad Company surveyed its line 
through the township in the fall of 1870 and towards the close 
of the year a camp and supply station were established at Oak 
Lake Cut, the former by Mr. Brackett the contractor and the 
latter by Fletcher and Bly, who had the contract to suppl}' 
the grading crews. Hubbard and Raymond also put in a 
stock of goods in the spring of 1871. A hotel built of logs 
was also erected that same winter. During 1871 and also to 
some extent in 1872 while the railroad was being built, con- 
siderable business w'as transacted by different establishments 
in the different lines of trade, many of them being sheltered 
in tents. 

After stations were established at Detroit and Audubon, 
business gradually fell awav and the place was discontinued 
soon afterwards. 




MR. AND MRS. JOHN GII.BERTSON. 




MR. AND MRS. HENRY I. LARSON. 



378 A Pionee;r History of Becker County. 



Village of Audubon. 

The townsite of Audubon was surveyed out in the summer 
of 1872, at which time a railroad station was established and 
placed in charge of a man by the name of Rothplatz. Henry 
Larson built a hotel the same summer, the first in the village. 
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company opened up an office 
for the sale of their lands in this vicinity late in the year 1872 
and placed it in charge of L. S. Cravath. 

B. B. Anderson erected a building and laid in a small stock 
of goods early in the fall of 1872, it being the first store in the 
village. He was followed later in the fall by E. Newman and 
O. J. Johnson, who bought his stock of goods and added to it; 
he in turn sold it to Thomas W. Dunlap and Michael Gillespie 
and also added to the store building. 

Frank Lacross established a general store in June, 1873, ^^^ 
he in turn sold it to Thomas W. Dunlap and Michael Gillespie 
in 1875. 

The Audubon Jounial was started in the fall of 1873, by P. P. 
and O. G. Wall. 

The Congregational church was begun in the fall of 1872, 
and was dedicated in 1873. 

The village of Audubon was incorporated by special law, approved 
Feb. 23d, 1881. 

The first set of village officers were : 

Michael Gillespie, president; R. B. White, recorder; Benjamin 
Hemstock, Walter Drew and Mike Oschner. trustees. 

The Rev. Mr. Watleson conducted divine service in the 
house of John Beaver on November 6, 1870. This being the 
first divine service ever held in the township, preliminary steps 
were taken to organize a Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church 
at the time. Rev. B. Hagboe, who came in the suiumer of 1872 
was the first resident preacher, but no church was l^uilt until the 
summer of 1874. 

The State Bank of Audubon was organized earlv in Feb., 1907. 
The officers are S. A. Netland, president, and A. O. Netland, 
cashier. 

P. A. O. Pktersox. 

Henry J. Larson, who preempted the principal part of the 
townsite of Audubon says : I located on the southwest quarter 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 379 

of Section 10 of what is now Audubon Township on the 30th of 
November, 1870, and sold to the Townsite Company. The 
survey of the townsite of Audubon was commenced in the first 
days of May, 1872, and a small house or box office was made 
ready for a telegraph office about the same time. The present 
passenger depot was made read}^ about the 20th of September 
of that same year. 

How Audubon Received its Name. 

About the middle of August, 1871, Mr. Thomas H. Canfield 
came through on a tour of inspection, and with him was quite 
a party of aristocratic looking people, and they camped where 
the Audubon depot now stands. The prairies were then covered 
with flowers and lilies, and there were several ladies in the party 
who were filled with admiration at the beauty of the surround- 
ing country, and I remember that one lady asked Mr. Canfield 
if a railroad station could ever be established there that it be 
called Audubon. Another man took out a memorandum book 
and noted down this request. 

I afterwards learned that the lady was a niece of John J. 
Audubon, the great American naturalist. 

H. J. Lauson. 



Oak Lake Village. 

In 1871-72 there was a thriving village at the Old Oak Lake 
Cut on the northeast quarter of Section 24 of the present town- 
ship of Audubon. 

The village grew up simultaneously with the progress of the 
work of excavating the long deep cut on the Northern Pacific 
Railway at that place ; it being several hundred feet in length 
and twenty feet or more in depth, and was the heaviest job of 
excavating on the Northern Pacific Railway between Duluth 
and the Missouri River. 

Work was begun in this cut about the beginning of the winter 
of 1870; the exact date I am unable to give. I was there on the 
2ist of January, 1871, and George M. C. Bracket, the contractor, 
was there at work with about forty men, engaged in excava- 
ting the frozen ground at the east end of the cut. I was there 
again on the loth of February and work was in progress at 



380 A PlONEKK HlSTCiKV l)F BeckHR CoUXTY. 

both ends of the cut, and there was quite a sprinkhng of tents 
on the south side. 

I was there again on the 20th of April, and the ckister of 
tents was assuming- the appearance of a thriving village. Fletch- 
er and Bly were running a big store, and were the general sup- 
ply agents of the Xorthwestern Construction Conipanv. and 
were doing a rushing business. This is the same "I'ncle Loren" 
Fletcher who has represented the city of .Minneapolis in the 
United States congress for se\'eral years past. In this store at 
that time were Guy Goodrich and Tim Chilton, who were work- 
ing in the capacity of clerks, dealing out groceries, calico and 
tobacco to Indians, scjuaws, graders and tenderfeet alike. 

In May, 1871, N. K. llul:)bard and J. H. Raymond opened 
up another store, which did a flourishing business for the next 
two years, and soon afterwards R. li. Abraham opened up still 
another, which he moved to Lake Park later on. 

P>v the first of August the south side of the cut had become 
a lively village of tents, and it was said there were 400 peojile 
living there at that date. The structures, however, were not 
altogether tents, as there had been some logs and considerable 
lumber used in their construction. There were now two hotels 
in operation ; one owned and operated by James !M. Crummy 
and L. D. Burger and the other by S. M. Thompkins, and that 
same summer a boot and shoe store was started by a man b}- 
the name of Marshall, wdio afterwards moved his store to Bis- 
marck, and towards the close of the year S. B. Pinney moved 
his store over from Sherman's, 1)\- the lake, which made four gen- 
eral stores running in the little \illage about the time the rails 
were laid to the cut. 

There was a'so the usual accomi)animent of saloons, gam- 
blers, sports, toughs, confidence men and fast women, such as 
are usually found congregated together on the outskirts of civiliza- 
tion, wherever there is an}- unusuallv large gathering of men with- 
out families. ( )ne large tent was used for a dance hall, and various 
other "doings" of a n-iysterious character were said to be carried 
on in that tent, as a consecjuence of which it was shunned by all 
timid people. 

Conspicuous among the gang of outlaws that infested the 
town were two superfine cut-throats of the first water. The 
name of one was Fhang, a polished expert of the light fingered 



A ProNEER History of Becker County. 381 

craft, who claimed to be a native of Dublin. Ireland, and the 
name of the other was Shumway. After the Northern Pacific 
Railway was completed to Aloorhead in the fall of 1871 this 
pair of land pirates changed their quarters to that village much 
to the relief of the people of Oak Lake. On the 25th of April, 
1872, Shang" shot and mortally wounded Shumway, who after 
he was wounded attempted to shoot Shang, but instead shot 
and killed an innocent b}'stander, a barkeeper by the name of 
'I'hompson. Clay County had only just been organized and no 
county officers had yet been appointed. The newly appointed 
county commissioners met immediately and appointed James 
Blanchard sheriff of Clay County and his first official act was 
to arrest the murderer Sliang. At a preliminary hearing after 
Shum way's death, Shang was released on a nominal bond and 
was never prosecuted, it being the general opinion that he had 
rendered Moorhead a good service in ridding it of Shumway, 
although Shang was if possible the worst villain of the two. 

The first political meeting in Becker County was held about 
the 25th of C^ctober, 1871. Governor Austin made a speech at a 
Republican meeting" at Oak Lake Cut, and during the progress of 
the meeting, a Norwegian by the name of L T. Knudson, who 
lived on Section 16, Audubon, was badly injured for life by a blow 
on the head with a revolver in the hands of an Oak Lake gambler 
called Blink}^ Jack. Jack's dog had a fight with a dog be- 
longing to Jacob Anderson and the owners of the dogs had a 
row over the dogs but were separated. Jack was not satisfied 
and afterwards started to hunt up Anderson and have it out. 
He came across Knudson and taking him for Anderson struck 
him on the head several times with his revolver. He was 
knocked senseless and thought to be dead for awhile, but was 
finally restored and is suffering from the hurt until this day. 

Jack was tried at the November term of court and sentenced 
to pay $400 fine or a year in jail. As there was no jail in the 
countv, the sheriff', Charles E. Churchill, could do no better than to 
take him home with him, but after boarding with him for a 
couple of weeks Jack skipped out. 

In the month of October, 1871, the work in the big cut w^as 
finished, and the small army of graders moved on to the West, 
but the little village continued to thrive. The place was easy 



382 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

of access, as there were good natural roads leading to it from 
all the principal points of the compass except the east. 

It cost Detroit several thousand dollars to construct as good 
roads as those leading to the cut, which did not cost a dollar. 

The oflficials of the Northern Pacific Railway Company from 
the start had anticipated the securing of a townsite at this place, 
and with it the construction of a permanent railway station. 
A part of this same plan was to locate the Detroit station on the 
shore of Detroit Lake, near where Mr. West's ice house now 
stands, and in accordance with the same plan there would be no 
station between Oak Lake and Lake Park. 

In the summer of 1871 the officials of the Northern Pacific 
Company commenced negotiating with L. D. Burger, who had 
now become the sole proprietor of the land where the depot 
grounds were wanted, for the purpose of purchasing the whole 
or at least a half interest in the proposed townsite ; but believing 
that the company would eventually be obliged to establish a 
permanent station at that point, Burger became exceedingly 
independent, and placed an extravagent price on his land. I 
have heard him say more than once that he had got the rail- 
road company where the hair was short ; that they had got to 
come to his terms, and they had got to pay for it besides. 

In the fall of 1871 a temporary station and telegraph office 
was established at the west end of the Oak Lake Cut, and an- 
other at Detroit, down in Tjdertown, near the Pelican River, 
and as the Northern Pacific officials were anxious to establish 
a permanent station at Detroit as early as possible, and as they 
were somewhat discouraged in their efforts to secure a satis- 
factory location at Oak Lake, they decided to locate the Detroit 
depot one block w*est of where the depot buildings now stand 
after the original townsite was laid out by Col. Johnston in the 
winter of 1871 and ''J2. 

The people at Oak Lake, however, did not lose heart, but 
still believed that with its favorable location and its present flour- 
ishing condition, the village was destined to remain the metrop- 
olis of the Park Region. 

The railroad officials still kept up negotiations with Burger 
during the whole of the year 1872, notwithstanding they had 
located a permanent station at Detroit, less than five miles away, 
but Burger was as stubborn and exacting: as ever. "You have 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



383 



got to come to my terms and you know it" he would say when- 
ever the subject was mentioned. 

In the month of July the United States Land Office was 
opened up at Oak Lake, and the merchants, hotel keepers and 
saloon keepers still continued to do a thriving business, and 
these prosperous conditions served to make Burger the more 
exhorbitant in his bargaining with the railroad company and 
also tended to keep up the courage of the people generally who 
were doing business in the village. 



^ ^^^ III 
1 


^l&^ 



W. J. MORROW, 



Finally the railroad officials became tired of dallying any longer 
with a scheme that promised no satisfactory outcome, and in the 
spring of 1873 moved the temporary station from Oak Lake to 
Audubon, where a townsite had just been laid out by the Lake 
Superior and Puget Sound Townsite Company. This proved the 
final undoing of Oak Lake. Everybody moved away but Burger 
and his family; the land office was moved to Detroit that same 
year, and for many long years afterwards all that remained of the 
once prosperous village was the old log hotel and barn, and a big 



384 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

patch of Canada thistles, that were scattering- their winged seeds 
of pestilence through the surrounding country. 

Frank Palmer, a native of X'ermont, was the telegraph operator 
at Oak Lake station. 

W. J. Morrow, the present popular cashier of the Alerchants 
National Bank of Detroit, came to Oak Lake Cut early in the 
spring of 1871, and after remaining there a year or two stayed in 
Audubon for awhile, and in 1876 took a homestead on Section 
28, in Hamden Township, where he resided until he was elected 
clerk of court in 1879. when he removed to Detroit, where he 
has resided ever since. 

MiNOT, N. D.. Jan. 5tli, 1906. 
A. H. Wilcox, Esq., 

Frazee City. Minnesota. 
Dear Sir: — The Mr. S. B. Pinney that you refer to is unquestionably 
the Pinney that died here in Minot. He was an early settler down at 
Oak Lake, as I believe they called it in the early days when Tompkins 
kept his keg saloon. He certainly resided along the Northern Pacific 
Railroad between Oak Lake and Fargo, and then after a while, he moved 
up to Fargo and resided there until about five years ago. when he came 
up here to Minot. He had two sons and one daughter, — I believe that is 
all of the family. To all appearances, he never accumulated any property. 
He was not the owner of any real estate here, whatever, and very little 
household effects. He might have property somewhere else that I don't 
know of. He was a tall man — quite tall and slim. He died about the first 
of December, 1905. 

James Johnston. 



The Shooting of Gunder Carlson by Bachinana. 

In October, 1870, I was surveying the town of Hamden for 
the United States government, hi the early part of the evening 
of the 21 St day of that month, while camped in a grove on Sec- 
tion 17, we noticed a fire a few miles south of us. AA'e were 
a little surprised as it had snowed the night before and the 
grass was still wet, so we knew it could not be a prairie fire, 
but we did not know the cause of it until several days af- 
terwards. A Norwegian by the name of Gunder Carlson and 
one of his boys, were living a little south of the line between 
Hamden and Audubon. He had already erected a log house 
and stable, and had about thirty or forty tons of hay stacked 
near his stable. About dark while sitting in his house, he saw 
a light outside, and after going out into the doorvard, and 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 385 

while standing by an oak tree near his door with one hand over 
his eyes to shade them from the glare of the fire, he discovered 
that his own hay stacks were on fire ; and just about that time 
he was shot by someone hid behind the wood-pile. He, how- 
ever, had a glimpse of his would-be murderer, and could have 
recognized him afterwards. As the stable was in great danger 
of being destroyed, he sent his boy to the rear of the stable and 
had him crawl through a hole into the stable and turn out the 
oxen and the cows. He thought the Indian was still guarding 
the front door of the stable, but he succeeded in getting the 
cattle out without difficulty. The stable did not burn. 

The old man was badly hurt. The gun was loaded with 
buckshot, and the whole charge took effect in his side and 
arm. He and the boy succeeded in making their way down to 
Christen Anderson's, who lived two miles southeast of there. 
As soon as they were gone, Bachinana, for that was the In- 
dian's name, commenced to sack the house. He took some 
cofifee and sugar and clothing, a gun and a little money. 

Things were pretty badly torn up in the house, and he even 
smashed the glass out of the windows and splintered up the 
sash with his hatchet. Mr. Carlson's arm was rendered help- 
less as long as he lived. He had several buckshot taken out 
of his side and back, but some of them penetrated too far ever 
to be reached, and they finally caused his death about two years 
afterwards. 



Billy Lamb. 



On the 17th of October, 1872, Dennis Stack came near kill- 
ing Billy Lamb at Oak Lake. I never heard all the details of 
the quarrel but during the aft'ray Stack gave Lamb an ugly cut 
across the abdomen with a knife, so that some of his bowels 
protruded. Lamb made his exit from the building where it 
occurred and made his way to a haystack where he was found 
some time afterwards in a serious condition. The cut was 
sewed up and he lived for twenty years afterwards. He showed 
me the scar the next February and it was an ugly one. Billy 
was an inofi'ensive son of Erin, and a veteran of the Civil War. 
Stack was also an Irishman, but a bad, quarrelsome man. 





** •fc**'*'"'"* * *'^'^' 



JOHN COOK. 



MRS. JOHN COOK. 




CAPT. F. K. SMALL. 



MRS. F. K. SMALL. 



A PioNeKK History oi? Beicker County. 387 



THE COOK FAMILY. 

Murdered By Indians Near Audubon, Becker County, Minnesota. — A Bio- 
graphical Sketch and Narrative. 

By Albion Barnard. 

January, 1893. 

Nothing in the history of Becker County, I venture to affirm, 
has touched more deeply and through a wider circle the chords 
of human sympathy and sorrow than the tragic fate, nearly 
twenty-one years ago, of the family whose name appears in the 
heading of this article. The tributes, especially to the memory 
of the father and mother, gleaned from the local weekly of De- 
troit, and the Minneapolis and Saint Paul dailies, at the time of 
the murder, are many, and attest the high appreciation of their 
worth by those wdio knew them best. These papers furnish also 
the details with much minuteness which make up the story of the 
eager pursuit, arrest, and formal trial, resulting in the conviction 
of one of the murderers. The subseciuent capture by soldiers at 
Leech Lake of an Indian reputed by his band to be the chief actor 
in the bloody drama, has never been made public. A recital here 
of the facts and incidents connected with this capture forms a 
needed supplement to the general narrative. 

On the seventh day of May, 1871, John Cook, closing a 
long and honorable service of the government, the last year of 
which as agent in charge of the new AAdiite Earth Indian Reser- 
vation, lying partly in Becker County, removed with his wife, 
three children and household goods to the township now known 
as Audubon. The names of the children were Freddie W., Mary 
E., and John W., aged respectively and in the order named, 
seven and a half years, six years, and ten months. He was 
accompanied 1)y Ca])t. F. K. Small, an eastern seafaring man 
and his faiuily, consisting of a wife, and two sons, one of seven 
and one of three years, the wife being a sister of Mrs. Cook. 
The location and acreage of the respective tracts of land upon 
which they settled and established claims imder the homestead 
law are determined with precision by the formula in use at the 
United States Land Office ; that of Cook being the west half 



388 A Pioneer Historv of Becker County. 

of the southwest quarter; and lots 7, 8 and 9 of Section 22, 
Township i3(; Xorth, Range 42 A\>st, aggregating i84-)4 acres. 
Tlie lots, I ma}' here remark, indicate a meandered lake upon 
which they border. Small's claim adjoining that of his friend, was 
partly in Section 22 and partly in Section 21. Upon these claims 
convenient farm buildings had been erected. They were of the 
type common to pioneer settlements on the prairies of the West. 
Rough or partially hewn oak logs from the nearest grove formed 
the foundation and walls of these small structures, the chinks 
being filled with adhesive mud. Materials for the roofs, doors, 
windows and inside finish were bought from a distant manu- 
factory. There was nothing about the exterior of these build- 
ings to attract the eye of a passing observer. A glance, however, 
at the interior of the dwellings would have disclosed evidence of 
thrift and culture on the part of their occupants. There were 
Brussels carpets upon the floors, neatly curtained windows and 
beds; silver tableware and jewelry of various kinds; costly ap- 
parel, books, periodicals, etc., as shown in a properly attested in- 
ventory. 

John Cook was born in the little town of Campton, N. H., 
in 1832. His wife, Diantha J., whose maiden name was Wash- 
burn, was a native of Welchville, Oxford County, ]\Iaine, her 
birth being eight years subsequent to that of her husband. The 
two were joined in marriage at Boston in January, 1863. In 
response to the call of the government he entered the navy in 
September, 1864, as assistant steam-engineer on the United 
States steamer. Little Ada, one of the Potomac squadron. Ad- 
miral Porter in command. After several months acceptable 
service here, the war having closed meantime, he removed to 
Rochester, in this state, and took up a claim. This was soon 
relinquished for a position offered him at Leech Lake as engi- 
neer in charge of the government mill and steamboat for the 
benefit of the Indians at that place. During five successive 
years he rendered faithful and efficient service at this post and 
was then transferred to White Earth. It was at this place he 
was presented to the reader at a specific date, in the two-fold act 
of resigning an important public trust and, with his friend Small, 
entering upon a plan for the accomplishment of a long cherished 
object. That object, I need hardly say, was the founding of a 
home for those who were dear to him by kindred ties. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 389 

In pursuance of this, he and Capt. Small had been attracted 
to a locality then far-famed as the park region of the Red River 
of the North. It comprises a part of the counties of Otter Tail 
and Becker, and may be described as a tract of land fifteen to 
twenty miles wide, lying immediately west of the great timber 
belt of northern Minnesota and constituting a portion of the 
watershed of the river named, on its eastern side. The visitor 
here sees a broad expanse of rolling prairie rising at intervals 
to summits of commanding view. The entire landscape appears 
studded with lakes and lakelets of crystal water, abounding 
with many varieties of fish, while groves of maple and oak alter- 
nated at that time with virgin fields ready for the plowshare 
of the pioneer settler. For long periods this region had been 
a favorite haunt of the buffalo (bison) and elk. Its grassy 
slopes had furnished luxuriant feed for countless numbers of 
these animals, to be, in turn, enriched by the droppings of their 
living forms and the flesh and bones of their dead. In more 
recent times it had been a borderland between the Chippewa of 
the forest belt on the east and his hereditary enemy, the wily 
Sioux of the vast prairie on the west. Here in the common pur- 
suit of a noble game they had met in many a fierce encounter. 
But these scenes, typical of a nomadic life and age, had suddenly 
vanished — in a day almost — to give place to those of peaceful, 
rural industry. A\'ith the first shriek of the iron horse in its 
approach from the east, the buffalo and elk had fled in terror, 
and a pioneer corps of hardy settlers had become a barrier be- 
tween these warring tribes of Indians. 

This delightful park region in question, with a soil of sur- 
passing fertility, was soon to be traversed by the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, in its extension westward. Located near the 
center of it. and within convenient distance of a prospective de- 
pot, my friends. — for thus I may call them — began their new 
home-life under the most auspicious conditions. Bouyant with 
health and hope and lacking no material comforts, a prosperous, 
happy future seemed, to a superficial observer at least, assured 
to them. But how narrow the scope of our finite minds. In 
the chain of cause and eft'ect. stretching into the infinite depths 
of that future, an Eternal Power has linked events which can- 
not be foreseen by us. 



390 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Nearly a year had now elapsed since Cook and Small had 
entered npon their new occupations as tillers of the soil. The 
last week in April had come with its sunshine and rain, covering 
with verdure and flowers the brown, dry prairie sod of winter. 
On Friday morning, the 27th of that month, Airs. Small sent 
her little boy to the home of her sister for a dish of milk. He 
speedily returned saying the house was burned "and nobody 
could be found." With anxious foreboding, Mrs. Small, in the 
absence of her husband at Detroit, hastened to the spot to find 
only two heaps of smoldering embers where had stood the 
dwelling and workshop. Peering into a hole half filled with 
partially charred debris, which indicated the place of the cellar, 
she beheld with a thrill of horror the blackened remains of 
human bodies. Doubt, which up to this moment had afforded 
a faint gleam of hope in her mind that somehow the lives of her 
sister and family had been preserved, now deepened into the 
certainty that all of them had here met an untimely death. Was 
it by the accidental burning of the house, or had some fiend in 
human form perpetrated a deed of atrocious cruelty? A few 
neighbors who had meantime been attracted to the smoldering 
ruins, began an investigation which resulted in finding clues 
which speedily led to the solution of this question ; a fresh im- 
print of a moccasin in the plastic soil near the ruins; an Indian 
knife near the workshop ; the failure after careful search to find 
any silverware or jewelry in the debris, or any trace of feather- 
beds, woolen blankets, clothing, and a large bundle of green furs 
known to have been in the building at this time; the fact, more- 
over, that two small parties of Indians, hunting and trapping, 
had been encamped in the near vicinity, this fact being made 
especially significant by their sudden disappearance on the morn- 
ing after the murder. It was ascertained further that two gal- 
lons of whisky had been sold to these Indians by some villainous 
white traders the day preceding that occurrence. On the other 
hand, suspicion had much reason for pointing to that swarm of 
vicious "roughs" which at that time accompanied the construc- 
tion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, keeping pace with its daily 
extension westward, as the agents in the commission of this 
diabolical crime. Any doubt, however, which may have lingered 
in the minds of some as to the authors thereof, was (|uickly to be 
dispelled. 



A PioNEiCR History of Becker County. 391 

Hardly a week had elapsed when a young' Indian was seen 
at Sandy Lake on the Mississippi having in his possession 
several articles of women's clothing and jewelry. This being 
reported to United States Marshal Brackett, at Saint Paul, he at 
once engaged the services of James Whitehead, long a resident 
among, and thoroughly acquainted with, the Indians of the Upper 
Mississippi. Accompanied by Messrs. Preston and Holland of 
Brainerd, Whitehead, on the eleventh of May, proceeded to 
that lake and, by a little strategy, effected the arrest of the 
suspected party. During the journey to Aitken by canoe, he 
nearly escaped from his captors by diving into the water and 
swimming like an otter beneath the surface. His Indian name, 
Kah-kah-ba-she, is interpreted Bobolink. He was taken to St. 
Paul, and confined in the jail. A confession made by him 
charged one Mais-kah-\vah-l)e-tung by name, as the chief actor 
in the bloody drama, while admitting his own guilt iri a subordi- 
nate part. Many subsequent confessions were published in the 
papers at the time, but the sequel renders it prol)able that the 
first only is essentially correct. 

In January following the trial of Bobolink began at De- 
troit. The Wilson house served as a jail for the prisoner, and 
a hotel for the judge, counsel, witnesses and others. The court 
convened in a long, narrow hall, over a billiard saloon, south 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad track. Judge McKelvy of 
Saint Cloud presided, the counsel for the state being F. R. E. 
Cornell of Minneapolis, attorney general, while the counsel 
for the prisoner was Judge Reynolds of Detroit and Hon. D. O. 
Preston of Brainerd. The jurors selected from a panel of twen- 
ty-four were Joseph Simmons, E. Rummery, Frank Bullard, D. 
C. Norris, C. H. Sturtevant, Chas. E. Herbert, L. D. Philips, 
Kimball Hayden, C. M. Tyler, Miles Hannah, Edward Bullard 
and Frank M. Peaseley. Among the large number of wit- 
nesses who testified for the prosecution were Capt. and Mrs. 
Small. Doctors Pyle and Calkins, James Whitehead, Franklin 
Cook, city engineer of Minneapolis, and a brother of the mur- 
dered man, and several Indians. For the defense was the testi- 
mony of Doctors Sully and Maltby. With elaborate arguments 
by counsel, and a brief, impartial charge by the judge, the jury 
retired and after two hours' deliberation rendered a verdict of 
"Guilty of murder in the first degree," with the death penalty 



392 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

added. The courtroom was crowded and no outward sign of 
approval or disapproval was manifested. By our statute the 
governor of the state was empowered to fix the date for the exe- 
cution of this penalty. \\'hile awaiting in the St. Paul jail this 
act on the part of the governor. Bobolink died of some cause un- 
known. 

Meantime, as a consequence of this murder and that of the 
Johnson family, in Clay County, a few months previous, by 
Indians, a feeling of alarm had become general among the set- 
tlers of the Red River Valley. At several places stockaded 
buildings had been erected by them for refuge and defense. 
Governor Austin had issued a proclamation, warning the Indi- 
ans to keep themselves closely within the lines of their reser- 
vations, if they would avoid arrest by the military. He had also 
ofifered a reward of one thousand dollars for the person or per- 
sons proven to be guilty of the crimes in question. In order 
to ascertain the exact state of affairs that he might take all 
needful means for the protection of the alarmed settlers and 
thus allay their excitement, he sent Doctor Day of St. Paul, an 
expert in knowledge of Indian character, to investigate and re- 
port thereon. So well did the doctor perform this duty that all 
apprehension was speedily removed. 

This trial of Bobolink is noteworthy in several of its aspects. 
Held in what was then a frontier village, the judge and coun- 
sel ranked among the ablest of the state. The witnesses were 
chiefly intelligent and prominent in their respective circles, some 
of them having been summoned from distant localities. The 
jury proved their fitness by a verdict amply justified by tl:e 
evidence. Thus constituted, the court was a fit symbol of our 
highest civilization and in its procedure an exemplary illustra- 
tion of the best known methods of determining justice to per- 
sons charged with crime. As the ordeal of intelligent reascjn 
taking the place of that of savage ini]ndse and superstition, it 
furnished a needed and impressive object lesson in a frontier 
region, far-reaching in its influence. In striking contrast was 
the spectacle at Brainerd a few months before of two Indians 
accused of the murder of a girl of mixed blood, hanging from 
the limb of a tree on the principal street, while a lawless 
mob rent the air with shouts of exultation. Against one of 
these victims there was nothing that could be called proof of 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 393 

guilt, — only mere suspicion, which subsequent developments 
showed was groundless. Such brutal acts are a blot upon our 
boasted civilization and they will cease only when respect and 
the higher sentiment of reverence of law shall have found a 
place in the hearts of men everywhere. 

Soon after the trial at Detroit, vague hints and rumors of 
an Indian hiding himself closely near the Leech Lake Agency 
reached the ears of the government employes at that post. So 
significant a fact — for fact it proved to be — in connection with 
many circumstances known to them, warranted the conviction 
on their part that this Indian was an accomplice in the murder 
near Oak Lake. Thereupon the head chief of the Pillager 
bands in that locality was sought and a reward of one hun- 
dred dollars was paid him by Agent E. P. Smith for disclosing 
the name and hiding place of the suspected criminal. With a 
file of soldiers then at hand to aid him, the writer of this ac- 
count proceeded to make his arrest. The wigwam in which 
he was concealed was one of a dozen located on a tongue of land 
projecting far into the lake. To insure success, it was neces- 
sary to make the approach thereto covertly. So cautiously ad- 
vancing, the underbrush serving as a screen, w^e entered upon 
the base of the tongue. Then with a rapid sweep down the nar- 
rowing tract we prevented any message or cry of alarm reach- 
ing the party sought by his numerous friends on the watch. 
At the extremity called Pine Point, we surprised and captured 
the hiding Indian, though he was provided with ample means 
for defense or escape. He proved to be as we expected, the 
Mais-kah-wah-be-tung implicated by the confession of Bobolink 
in the murder near Oak Lake. 

The authorities of Becker County were at once notified by 
Agent Smith of this arrest. They were also assured by him 
that sufiicient proof would be furnished at a trial which they 
alone were empowered to give the arrested party, to insure 
his conviction. For some reason unknown to the writer, these 
authorities neglected or deemed it unwise to bring the Indian 
into court. Meantime he was confined at Fort Ripley and 
at the end of a year was set free, since the military could not 
legally hold him longer. 

I may add in conclusion that a circular plot of ground, two 
chains in diameter, inclosing the site of the burned buildinos 



394 A PioNKER History of Becker County. 

and the interred remains of the victims of a savage deed in- 
spired by the desire of plunder only, has ben set apart for a 
sacred and noble purpose. 

A claim upon the government preferred by the heirs of Cook, 
for property destroyed by the Indian murderers, has been ap- 
proved in the court of claims, and now awaits only an act of con- 
gress for payment. 

Dated January ist, 1895. 
Mrs. West. A. B. 

The claim for damages has since been paid. 

The following is from the ^linneapolis Tribune: 

The whole country is familiar with the horrible massacre of the Cook 
family — consisting of the father, mother and three children^which took 
place on Friday night, April 26th, at their home near Oak Lake in this 
state. As soon as the terrible event became known. Major Brackett, the 
successful detective, commenced work on the case, and his efiforts have been 
rewarded by the capture of the principal murderer, who with three others 
are now known to have committed the terrible crime, and as the three 
alluded to are well known, there is very little doubt but that they, too, 
will soon be brought to the halter. 

THE CAPTURE OF KA-KA-BA-SHE. 
The Indian brought to St. Paul by Major Brackett on Saturday night 
goes by the name of Ka-ka-ba-she, or Bobolink, and he was first suspected 
as one of the murderers by John Lynde, a well known and respectable 
half-breed, who saw Bobolink at Sandy Lake, and who came from 
Oak Lake about the time of the murder, decked out in ladies' costume 
and flourishing a gold chain and other articles. When Lynde got to Aitken 
station, he notified the telegraph operator, who at once sent the facts to 
Brainerd, where the despatch reached Major Brackett on Tuesday of last 
week. The Major immediately secured the service of James Whitehead, 
an old trader among the Pillager Indians, to make the arrest, who with 
two trusty assistants repaired to Aitkin, where they were joined by 
Lynde, and all four proceeded to Sandy Lake where the Indians were 
camped. As soon as they reached Sandy Lake Whitehead alone went 
among the Indians and picked out Bobolink. He remarked as he took 
hold of him, "Come along — I want you!" Bobolink demurred, and for 
a time meditated resistance, but Whitehead was stern and inexorable; and 
amidst the shouts, execrations and hostile demonstrations of a hundred 
squaws, who attempted to rally the tribe to the rescue of Bobolink, 
Whitehead succeeded in getting away with his prisoner, who. fortunately, 
had in his possession at the moment of his capture, Mrs. Cook's cloak, 
gold chain and other articles, which were safely brought back to testify 
in immistakable language against the bloody and barbarous demon, and 
which will serve in a short time to hang him on a civilized gallows. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 395 

GREAT CREDIT IS DUE 

to John Lynde, the half-breed, and James Whitehead, for their action in 
bringing Bobohnk into Major Brackett's clutches. It is believed that no 
other man but Whitehead could have succeeded in the audacious enterprise 
of visiting the Indian tribe, and boldly dragging out one of their number and 
successfully getting away with him. He seems to have commanded both 
the respect and the fear of the whole tribe, and it seems almost amazing 
that he should have succeeded in getting out alive with his prisoner. But 
his promptness and extraordinary celerity of movement saved him, for had 
he dallied a moment or two longer, by which time the Indians, recovered 
from their surprise, would have overwhelmed him, and Bobolink and the 
principal circumstantial evidences which he carried with him would have been 
hidden away. Major Brackett, likewise, has reason to be proud of the part 
he has played in the interesting transaction. After reaching Sandy Lake, 
he took to the water, and 

DIVED FOR HIS LIFE 
by plunging into the lake and attempting to escape. Whitehead pur- 
sued his prisoner in the water, who dived every time his pursuer at- 
tempted to seize him, and he was only brought to time by Whitehead's 
striking him a telling blow on the head with an oar; then dragging him 
into the canoe, he got him safely to Aitkin, twenty miles away, when he 
took the train for Oak Lake, where the villain was examined before a 
justice of the peace and committed for trial". 

A PAINFUL SCENE 

]\Irs. Small the sister of the murdered Mrs. Cook was shown the articles 
in possession of the captured murderer, all of which she recognized in an in- 
stant. For a moment she was overcome with anguish at the recollection of the 
sad fate of her sister. Then amidst her agonizing paroxysms of grief, she hap- 
pened to cast her eyes on the red demon, who was present, and whom she 
would certainly have slain on the spot if she had been in possession of a 
weapon. She was finally led away from the presence of the cause of her 
misery, and this melancholy scene closed. 

Mrs. Small was the first witness. 

She testified she resided within three-fourths of a mile of her sister, 
Mrs. Cook; their claims joined; last saw Mr. John Cook and family on 
the Sunday night before they were massacred; they were killed on Friday 
night, April 26th, 1872; Mrs. Cook's oldest boy, Freddie, on that even- 
ing brought milk to our house; he also brought me a note from his mother; 
it was sisterly in tone, and contained words of cheer and contentment. 

THE FIRST NEWS. 
About half past ten on Saturday morning, I sent my boy over to 
my sister's for milk; he got nearly there, and returned to tell me the 
house was burned; I sent him to tell my sister and her family to come 
over to my house; he soon came back, saying nothing could be found 
of anybody; I then went myself to search for them. 



396 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

THE REMAINS. 
I looked into the cellar and saw the remains of human bodies; could 
not go into the cellar on account of fire which smouldered there; I sent 
my son after Mr. Larson; my husband was in Detroit, I telegraphed for 
him to come home immediately. Mr. Larson came, and with a pole re- 
moved some of the remains. I saw Mr. Cook's remains; all his ribs at- 
tached to the backbone were there; saw a skull near the body and a heart, 
not burned, lay near the ribs. My husband came home in the afternoon 
and we telegraphed to Mr. Franklin Cook at Minneapolis. 

THE CONFESSION. 

Bobolink commenced by remarking that he had bad luck hunting, and 
was anxious to go by White Earth home- Arrived first at Little Sioux 
camp, southwest of Anderson's store. He took the direction prescribed 
by Boanece, and proceeded to Little Lake, where he changed his mind, 
and concluded to go by Anderson's store and Oak Lake. Just before 
reaching the store he met an old Indian by the name of Mais-kah-wah- 
be-tung, who after a few minutes' talk concluded to go with him and 
murder the Cook family. He refused at first, and he asked Mais-kah-wah- 
be-tung why he wanted to murder the Cook family. Mais-kah-wah-be-tung 
said plunder, that he had assisted to murder a Swede family, thereby 
getting many valuable things. 

After two sittings and talks he finally concluded to go with ^Slais-kah- 
wah-be-tung. They passed by the south side of the store and along 
the shore of a little lake in the direction of Mr. Cook's house, arriving at 
the tree near the house. There was a light in the window and they could 
see all that was going on in the house. They stopped some little time 
at the tree, the prisoner still hesitating to commit the crime, when 
Mais-kah-wah-be-tung upbraided him severely for cowardice, after 
which Mais-kah-wah-be-tung went up to the window and with his gun 
fired through at a man sitting on a chair in the room, and killed him. 
Then he told the prisoner Bobolink to keep watch on the outside 
so that no Americans might come and detect them. Mais-kah-wah-be- 
tung then went into the house and met a lady coming out of the other 
room of the house. He struck her one blow with his hatchet and killed 
her immediately. Defendant then told Mais-kah-wah-be-tung that he had 
done enough, and tried to frighten him to desist by telling him that 
the Americans were coming, but he paid no attention, but proceeded 
upstairs and commenced killing the children, and then proceeded to throw 
down such goods as he found. He took a light upstairs with him, 
which went out, when he struck a match and lit it again. The de- 
fendant said he only heard one short cry of a child when the killing 
was being done. After he was through upstairs he searched the house 
below, and brought out all that was valuable, making up two bundles. 
Defendant helped to pack them. After the packs were made up they 
started in the direction they came from. After getting some distance 
Mais-kah-wah-be-tung discovered he had left his hatchet, and said to de- 
fendant, you can go on, I'll go back and get my hatchet and then over- 
take you. He did so, and when he caught up with defendant Bobo- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 397 

link looked back and saw that the house was all in flames — ]\Iais-kah- 
wah-be-tung having set it on fire. They then proceeded together to 
the place they first met. Then Mais-kah-wah-be-tung told him to be 
careful and not expose the goods for some time, lest their crime would 
be discovered thereby; as for himself, he would bury his goods until 
fall. They then parted, Bobolink going homeward and Mais-kah-wah- 
be-tung going west. 

The defendant crossed the line of railroad above Oak Lake, where 
he slept one night, then circled around, coming back to the railroad at 
Hobart. There he sold 100 rats, which was a part of the plunder taken 
out of Mr. Cook's chamber; he sold them to a white man. He then went 
by railroad down to station near Sandy Lake, his home. 

The day of the night of the murder he left Boanece's camp at noon, 
being the 26th of April. They got to Cook's house and began the murder 
about II o'clock at night. Mr. Cook sat dead on his chair and the 
woman lay dead on the floor, as the defendant saw them, when standing on 
the outside of the house and looking through the window near the door. 

I did not see the children at all; they were upstairs. Mais-kah-wah- 
be-tung said there were three children, two in one bed and one in another. 

Mrs. West. 

Henry J. Larson, who was then living where the village of 
Atulnbon now stands, was the first person, next to Mrs. Small 
to reach the scene of the murder. 

Henry Way came soon afterwards. 

Mr. Larson says : 

On the day before the murder I went from my place south, past Capt. 
Small's house, and after talking for a few minutes with Mrs. Small, went on 
down to Mr. Cook's place, arriving here about five o'cock in the evening. 
Cook was burning some rubbish around the house, and preparing to plant 
his garden. The Indians had already commenced to beat on a drum, and 
Mr. Cook made some remark about the probability of their being drunk 
from whisk}' obtained at Oak Lake. They danced and made loud noises 
most every night at their camp, about half a mile southwest from Cook's 
house. 

The next morning I noticed that Mr. Cook's house was gone and im- 
mediately started for the place, and when near there saw Mrs. Small 
coming from the opposite direction, and we proceeded to where the house 
had been. I at once went to the stable where the horse ani cow stood 
and found them undisturbed. At Mrs. Small's request I took the horse 
and rode to Detroit to inform Mr. Small and Moody Cook, and informed 
all I met." 

H. J. L. 

Directly after the murder Boanece was camped at Floyd 
Lake and made trips every day from his camp to Oak Lake 



398 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

village until the time of his arrest, always passing by my house 
at the north end of Oak Lake. A day or two after the murder 
he walked into the house, and asked for something to eat. 
I was away from home in the Wild Rice country at the time, 
and Mrs. Wilcox was alone. She gave him some bread and 
cold pork which he eat with a relish, and he gave her an 
agate. He was in no hurry to leave, after eating his lunch, 
and while sitting in the house a half grown kitten came in. 
Boanece picked it up and asked Mrs. Wilcox to give it to him. 
She asked him what he wanted it for, and he took out his 
knife and made a sign to skin the kitten by pulling its hide 
ofif over its head and leaving it nearly entire. He then took 
out his tobacco, and by motions gave her to understand that 
he wanted it for a tobacco pouch. He did not, however, get the 
kitten. Mrs. Wilcox says he had the wickedest looking eyes 
she ever saw in a human being. She had not yet heard of the 
murder. 

Arrest of Boanece. 

Soon after the murder a drunken Indian at Oak Lake drop- 
ped a hint that Boanece was implicated in the crime. Boanece 
was then camped at Floyd Lake, near where John O. French 
was living. French was at the time running a butcher shop 
at Oak Lake and he proposed to Frank Morse who was liv- 
ing near him, that they go over and arrest him. French was 
one of the constables of Detroit Township at the time. They 
found five or six lodges at Floyd Lake, but there was no one 
in them but squaws and children, so they were obliged to go 
back without their man. 

A day or two afterwards Boanece happened to be at Oak 
Lake village, and French and L. D. Burger who was then 
deputy sheriff, decided that now was the time to capture him. 
They then started out in quest of the Indian. Burger had two 
navy revolvers strapped under his coat and French was also 
provided with a good weapon. 

They overtook Boanece just as he was leaving the village, 
near the railway station, which then stood at the west end of 
the big cut. There was a young, boyish looking Indian with 
him, of appearance so insignificant and innocent that they 
hardly took him into consideration. Boanece was armed with 



A Pioneer History of Becker County, 399 

a double barreled shot gun, and French asked him if he wanted 
to sell his gun, and at the same time took hold of the bar- 
rels and told him to let him see it. Boanece replied that it 
belonged to another Indian, and at the same time cocked both 
hammers and told him to let go or he would shoot him. Burger 
then seized the Indian and French took away the gun and 
they marched him up to Burger's hotel, where Burger hunted 
up a dog chain, with which they proceeded to shackle him. 
When they commenced, French handed the gun belonging to 
Boanece to the young Indian to hold, but by the time they had 
their Indian shackled he had skipped out gun and all. This 
young scamp proved to be Bobolink himself, who was after- 
wards convicted of the same murder. They took Boanece into 
the hotel where he was seated, and in a short time he arose 
and hobbled across the room to where Burger was standing and 
pointing his finger in his face with much emphasis told him 
that he would kill him if he ever got a chance, and then made 
the same remark to French. 

Then they ail went to supper, and while seated at the table, 
Louis Thompson, a Norwegian, living on Section 14, in Audubon 
walked up behind Boanece and deliberately took out his knife 
and cut off a lock of his hair. Boanece sprang to his feet, and 
seizing a knife from the table started for Thompson, his eyes 
flashing like balls of fire and the chain clanking on the floor of 
the dining room, but his feet were so hampered by the chain that 
Thompson made good his escape. Boanece was assigned to a 
room upstairs, and closely guarded, but during the night he managed 
to give them the slip and made his way down stairs, but the outside 
doors were all locked, so that he could not get out, but finally groped 
his way into a back room and partly hid himself by getting behind, 
and partly crawling into a large heap of potatoes that was lying on 
the floor, and it was only after a long search with a lantern that he 
was finally found. A few days afterwards he was taken to St. Paul 
and locked up a short time, after which he was brought back and 
given a hearing and released for want of evidence. 

.After his release Boanece dressed himself in fantastic array, 
an equipment of eagle feathers forming the principal part of his 
costume, and went to a photogapher and had his likeness taken. 

Bobolink who Was arrested at Sandy Lake by Whitehead, 
Preston and Holland had been confined in the Ramsev Countv 



400 A ProxEER History of Becker County. 

jail and was placed on trial January 15th, 1873. I was in Detroit 
at the time, and was occasionally in at the trial. Kimball Hay- 
den was the foreman of the jury, and during the trial was the 
best dressed man in the courtroom. I well remember his high 
silk hat and Prince Albert coat and the aristocratic air that he 
assumed. F. R. E. Cornell, who was the attorney general 
of the state, and who was prosecuting the case, took Hayden 
for an attorney when he first came, and inquired of him how 
many cases he had in court. The principal witness in the case 
was the prisoner himself, who acknowledged having a part in 
the murder, but accused Boanece and Mais-kuh-wah-be-tung of 
being the principals in the crime. Whitehead gave an account 
of the arrest of Bobolink at Sandy Lake, of his attempt to 
escape by jumping overboard while on their way down the 
river in a row-boat, of his subse((uent capture, and of their safe 
arrival at Brainerd. Judge Reynolds was the chief counsel for 
the prisoner and he was assisted by D. O. Preston of Brainerd, 
who assisted Whitehead to capture Bobolink at Sandy Lake. 
As there was no jail in the county. Bobolink was kept at the 
Wilson house in charge of Lars A. Larson, the sheriff. He wore 
shackles on both hands and feet. I was staying at the Wilson 
house myself at that time. Peter Schroeder, of Perham, the 
brewer, banker and mill owner, was working for his board at the 
Wilson house that winter. One evening after the night session 
of court was over Bobolink was left for a short time in charge 
of Schroeder and myself when he asked us something in Chip- 
pewa that we did not understand, so we called George W^ilson, 
the landlord to interpret for us, who said Bobolink wanted to 
know when they were going to "nepo" him. 

Mrs. F. K. Small, the sister of the murdered woman, Mrs. 
Cook, also stayed at the W^ilson house during the trial. Bobolink 
often complained of the savage looks the white squaw gave him. 
Bobolink died May 19th, 1873, in the Ramsey County jail. He 
was said to have starved himself to death. 

Soon after the murder of the Cook family, Boanece and K ab- 
a-ma-be were arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the 
crime, but after the arrest of Bobolink, he made a confession, 
charging Mais-kah-wah-be-tung with being the principal, and 
only party to the crime besides himself. Kab-a-ma-be had al- 
ready been released as there was not a particle of evidence 



A PioxKER History of Becker County. 401 

against him, and Boanece was now allowed to go home, although 
he was considered a bad Indian and it was generally believed that 
he was one of the guilty parties. 

During Bobolink's trial, however, he made statements im- 
plicating Boanece as one of the three parties to the murder. 

Sometime early in February, 1873, the Indian excitement 
broke out. afresh. It was reported that Boanece, who was of 
mixed Sioux and Chippewa blood and who was now wanted 
for complicity in this terrible crime "was hiding in the vicinity 
of the White Earth Agency. James Whitehead who had so 
bravely and skillfully accomplished the capture of Bobolink at 
Sandy Lake was selected to make the arrest. He accordingly pro- 
ceeded to WHiite Earth, taking with him a small posse of men. 
Henry Way took the party from Oak Lake Station to White 
Earth with his team, and went with him to assist in making the 
arrest. They found him at the house belonging to Gams John- 
son and with him were half a dozen other Indians, the most 
desperate and dangerous characters on the Reservation all en- 
gaged in the Indian gambling game of mocasin. Whitehead 
shook hands with Boanece and told him he wanted him to go 
with him. He said, "Allright. I will go as soon as I can get ready," 
and stepping back picked up a double-barreled shotgun already 
cocked, and pointing it in Whitehead's face told him he did not 
propose to be choked to death like a dog, and ordered him to 
leave the place. He had two or three more guns at hand ready 
for use, and the other Indians were also armed to the teeth, and 
gathered around him. ready to take a hand in the fight, so AMiite- 
head decided to postpone the arrest until he could simimon ad- 
ditional help. 

He accordingly sent word to the governor of the state, who 
on the 15th of February ordered out a company of militia, con- 
sisting of forty men under the command of Lieutenant Dresser, 
all of Brainerd. They arrived at Oak Lake Cut in the afternoon 
on the five o'clock train. All the teams in the village were pressed 
into service, and some of the farmers in the vicinity were called 
upon to lend a hand to help. I was staying that night at the 
home of C. A. Sherman, my wife being away in Iowa for the 
winter. Just after I had gone to bed, a couple of men came 
after Sherman, and he started ofif with his team to take a load 
of soldiers to White Earth. It was late in the evening before 



402 



A PioNEiiR History of Becker County. 



the soldiers were loaded up, but tinall}- about eleven o'clock the 
teams started, six or seven together. The night was cold and 
storniv, the snow was deep and the roads badly drifted. Half 
the soldiers and some of the teamsters were drunk and by the 
time thev were well up into Richwood Township they were scat- 




BOANECE 



tered over the prairie in all directions. Some of them had lost 
the road, and others were stuck fast in the snow. About mid- 
night they met a messenger from \\'hite Earth who brought word 
that Boanece was no longer there, but had left for parts unknown 
and the whole arm}- made a race liack to Oak Lake and took the 
first train for Brainerd. 



A PioNi;E;R History of Beckkk County. 403 



Extracts from the Audubon Journal. 

This paper was started in the fall of 1873 by P. P. and O. G. 
Wall. 

April 4, 1874. — A. K. Murray of White Earth, moved to Audubon last 
Monday. 

April II, 1874. — By a special act of the Legislature, passed in 1873, 
the village of Detroit voted to ta.x the township $5000 to corduroy the 
sinks about the village so that it could be reached. 

April 25, 1874. — When the county seat bill was defeated in the Senate 
last winter, the Detroiters hoisted flags and made other demonstrations 
of delight. Where are those flags now? 

Johnstonville is dumb on the county seat matter. The "Kunnel" and 
his "40 thieves" have gone into council, and an onslaught from any direction 
will not surprise us. 

"Look out for prairie fires. They begin to make their appearance 
at the north and west of us." — Detroit Record. 

To which the Audubon Journal replies : 

Yes, but there is no danger of them burning out the tamarack swamps 
near your place at this time of the year! 

May 30, 1874. — We are happy to inform the Record that the county 
seat of Becker County is now at Lake Park. 

We understand that the board of county commissioners will meet 
at the auditor's ofifice at Lake Park hereafter, that being the most convenient 
place for all concerned. 

Unpaid county orders now draw interest at 12 per cent, on and after 
July I, 1874, from date of filing until paid. 

July 18, 1874. — A cloud of grasshoppers from the British possessions 
passed over Dakota and into Minnesota, which reached from Moorhead 
to Mankato, a distance of 225 miles. 

Frank La Cross is putting up a new store building to accommodate his 
large and growing trade. 

August 28, 1874. — The fur trade has been lively during the past week. 
Rats brought as high price as 28 cents. Wheat 65 cents, oats 65 cents, 
and potatoes 40 cents. 

December 19, 1874. — The ice in Cormorant Lake is about two feet thick. 
Rats have fallen: — " 'Tis the saddest event of all the 'Glad New Year.' " 

Wheat is 70 cents and oats are 70 cents. Muskrats are 25 cents. 

The county seat in court. On the petition of Col. George H. Johnston 
of Detroit, Judge Stearns has issued a writ of mandamus, requiring the 
county commissioners of this county to provide offices for the county 
officers at the county seat or show cause why they do not do so. The hear- 
ing will be held on the 3rd day of February when it will be ascertained 
which is the county seat, the Detroit which was made the county seat in 



404 A PinxEUR History of Becker County. 

1857, or the Detroit which was not in existence until 1872, or some fifteen 
years after the act of legislature was passed locating the county seat. An- 
other warning to the people not to sign the Detroit petition for the abate- 
ment of state tax. We call on the people to be on their guard. 

January 23, 1875. — Rats are up again and everybody wears a smiling 
face. Wheat 75 cents, oats 65 cents, muskrats 28 cents and kits 17 cents. 

February 6th. — The case commenced by Colonel Johnston against 
the county commissioners which was heard by Judge Stearns on the 
3rd inst. was dismissed on motion of the attorney for the county. This is 
the third time the colonel has failed to enforce his demands against 
the county. He has failed in two suits to recover $i,300' for a jail that 
the county doesn't want, and one to enforce the commissioners to pro- 
vide offices for the county officers at his town, so that he can pay his taxes 
by simply walking across the street while nine-tenths of the citizens of 
the county have to go to nearly the extreme eastern side of the set- 
tled portion of the county to transact their business with the covmty 
officials at the colonel's town, and all this simply to gratify and con- 
tribute to the wealth of this self-important, old Yankee speculator. 

Bitter fight of Colonel Johnston against McGrew and Dixon and Tor- 
gerson for raising county attorney's salary to $800. Ever since the com- 
ing into this county of the hoard of Detroit refugees they have made 
it a point to constantly belie and insult the foreign born population liv- 
ing in this region. 

February 20th, 1875. — People are again urged to systematically burn 
the prairies to prevent grasshoppers spreading. At a meeting at this 
place it was decided to call upon the people of the different towns to 
appoint committees at their annual town meetings, whose duty it will 
be to arrange matters in regard to the burning of the prairies. If things 
are allowed to take their course, the people will have themselves to 
blame if again overrun with grasshoppers. 

March 13, 1875. — Committees have been appointed to burn the prairies 
to prevent the increase of grasshoppers. Thirty of these several mem- 
bers of the dififerent committees were in town this week, and informed 
us that they are determined to do all in their power to make the war 
upon the hoppers a success. 

TREASURY DEPLETING TRIO. 

No. I. — Colonel Johnston vs. the County Commissioners of Becker 
County, suit, attorney for plaintifif, W. F. Ball, County attorney. 

No. 2. — Colonel Johnston vs. the County Commissioners of Becker 
County, attorneys for plaintiff, W. F. Ball and R. Reynolds. 

No. 3. — Colonel Johnston vs. same for mandamus. 

People of Becker County: THESE THREE VAMPIRES ARE 
SLOWLY BUT SURELY DRAINING YOUR TREASURY. 

The farmers of Cormorant Township intend putting in their regular 
crops this coming spring and run the risk of having them destroyed by 
grasshoppers. If pluck and energy will in any way effect the result the 
Cormorant farmers are bound to make a raise. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 405 

Muskrat rates are as usual. 

Spring trapping promises to be lively. Trappers hereabouts are busily 
engaged at present building trapping boats and making other prepara- 
tions for the country rat campaign. — Audubon Journal. 

Mrs. West. 



The Rev. James Gurley. 

The Rev. James Gurley was born at Wexford, Ireland, in the 
year 1800. His parents left him with an aunt, when a very 
small child, while they went to England and then to America, 
where they settled at Sandusky, Ohio. Rev. James Gurley was 
15 years old when he came to America to live with his parents. 
^^'hile with them he became, like his father, a Methodist min- 
ister. At an early age he was married to a widow, Mrs. Wycouf, 
who had two children, a girl and a boy. He became a traveling 
minister and lived a number of years in Ohio, and had a large 
family of five boys and four girls. He owned a beautiful farm 
two miles from the city of Zanesville, Ohio, which he sold and 
invested in a portable sawmill at Pepin, Wisconsin. He still 
preached as well as looked after the sawmill. After a few years 
he moved his sawmill to Maxville, Wisconsin, and there traded 
it to a man to put up a building for a grist or flour mill, of which 
his son Benjamin owned a share. When living there in 1861 he 
adopted a daughter, Angelina Sankey, a girl about ten years old. 
About the same time, two of his sons went into the army. Benja- 
min went as captain of a company and Walter did a great deal 
of writing for army officers. They lived at Maxville a few years 
after the close of the war, and then traded the flour mill for a 
store at Wabasha, Minnesota, where his family resided for three 
years. The first year he preached whenever called on, the second 
year he was sent as chaplain to the Y. M. C. A. at Minneapolis, and 
the third year he was sent as a missionary to Brainerd. He be- 
came acquainted with a Richard Giffin and they came west to Becker 
County and took claims in the spring of 1871. By this time his 
store had failed in Wabasha. Farther Gurley located his claiin 
on the bank of a small lake on Section 18 of Audubon Township 
which he named Mission Lake, which is about half way between 
Audubon and Lake Park. Here he built a log cabin and made 
a garden and then returned by stage to Wabasha, where his 
family consisting of his wiie and adopted daughter had resided 



4o6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

since buying the store, lie bought a team, and took the boat and 
went to St. Paul. He then drove through from St. Paul to Becker 
County, which took three weeks. On the way through the people 
were very kind ; all he had to do was to tell them that he was Father 
Gurley and a missionary for the Northern Pacific, and they were 
taken in free of cost, as mother and father. He came through 
without any accident, and settled on his claim in the latter part 
of July, 1871, and was the first resident preacher in the county. He 
held services or preached in Detroit and Oak Lake. His adopted 
daughter was married to Hamilton Kelly in the fall of 1872. In 
the same year he and his aged wife moved to Glyndon, from there 
to Audubon and thence to Detroit. Here they resided several 
years until his wife's health failed, then he took her back to live 
with their daughter Kate, or Mrs. Trimble, who lived in Bucyrus, 
Ohio, then he returned to Detroit, Minn. His wife lived for six 
months and died and was buried in the cemetery at Bucyrus, 
Ohio. His home was in Detroit, but he traveled along the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad from Moorhead to Detroit and preached un- 
til his health failed him. His daughter, Clara, or Mrs. Pomroy, 
who resided at St. Charles, Iowa, came up to Moorhead, where 
he was sick and took him back to her home, where he resided un- 
til his death. She had his remains buried alongside of his wife. 

In 1848, the Wyandotte Indians were removed from Ohio to 
their reservation in Kansas, and being opposed to slavery, they 
wished a minister from the North. At the annual conference of 
the M. E. Church in Cincinnati in 1848. volunteers were called 
for to fill the position and Mr. Gurley was chosen. The Southern 
people of Missouri and Arkansas being opposed to him on account 
of his anti-slavery preaching, conspired to kill him, but Mr. Gur- 
ley l)eing a Mason was taken under the care of members of 
that organization, and secretly gotten out of the territory during 
the night and his life spared and saved. The Masons placing 
him in a sleigh and covering him with buffalo robes, traveled 
sixty miles during the night to a place of safety. This is simply 
a little episode of his eventful life and is only one of a great 
many. 

Mrs. West. Walter Gurley. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 407 



Dr. David Pyle. 

Dr. David Pyle, who was the first auditor of Becker County, 
and also the first notary public, was born in Ohio about 1825. 
When a young man he went farther west, and located I think in 
Morgan County, Illinois. His wife was a native of Missouri. 

Sometime in the early fifties, he in company with a man by 
the name of John B. Morgan, with their families crossed the 
great plains with teams and wagons, by way of the South Pass 
on their way to the then territory of Oregon. When in what 
is now Southern Idaho, Morgan had some trouble with his family, 
and left them, going north with a party of Indians. I came 
across this same Morgan in 1862, on the headwaters of the Mis- 
souri, living with a Blackfoot squaw, and following the occupa- 
tion of Indian trader and wild rover. He was afterwards hung 
by a vigilance committee. 

The Pyle family proceeded to Oregon, where they remained 
for several years. The next I know of them they were living 
in McLeod County, Minnesota, where he was elected to the legis- 
lature in the fall of 1868. The next spring he was appointed gov- 
ernment physician to A\ bite Earth, and in the fall of 1869 took a 
homestead on Sections 17 and 18, in what is now Audubon Town- 
ship, where he removed his family in the spring of 1870. 

When the county was organized. Dr. Pyle was appointed 
county auditor, which ofifice he held until the first Monday in 
March, 1872. He was appointed notary public by Gov. Austin, 
on the 3d of December, 1870, and his commission was recorded 
in Douglas County, to which Becker was then attached, on the 
19th of January, 1871, and in Becker County on the loth of Janu- 
ary, 1872. 

Dr. Pyle left Becker County in the fall of 1873 with his family 
and went to northern Alabama, where he died somewhere about 
the year 1884. 



Captain Freeman K, Small. 

Freeman K. Small was born at Lubec, Maine, on the 6th day 
of June, 1837. WTien a boy he went to sea and passed through 
the dififerent grades, until he stood on the quarterdeck as master 



4o8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

mariner, and for several years commanded vessels sailing" from 
the ])orts of Luhec and Eastport. Captain Small was married 
to ]Miss Jeanette Washburn, at her father's home on April loth, 
1862, but he continued to follow the high seas for several years 
afterwards. He traveled over a large part of the world, includ- 
ing two trips to Africa. Mrs. Small accompanied her husband on 
several of these trips, but concluding she was never intended 
for a sailor, she persuaded him to abandon his occupation as sea 
rover and take up his trade as carpenter and builder, which he 
had learned in his younger years. 

Mrs. vSmall writing from her home at Bradford. Mass., Dec- 
ember 3rd, 1905, says: 

]Mr. Small went to Leech Lake, Minn., in March, 1870, as carpenter and 
engineer of a steamboat on that lake, which was being run in the interest 
of the Indian farmers, by which they carried their oxen and plows to their 
different places around the lake. Our son Jake and myself went to Leech 
Lake in the following May. John Cook in the meantime was sent to White 
Earth from Leech Lake to look after the interests of the Indians there, and 
in July, 1S70, he got us transferred to White Earth with them. The follow- 
ing spring they took their homestead near Audubon and we went on our 
claim, which joined theirs, in April 1871, and lived there until Audubon 
became a railroad station when we built a house there and lived there 
several years. Aside from the trouble aiising from the murder of my 
sister's family, we enjoyed life out there very much, and often wished we 
had not come back so far east. 

W lun the Small family left Becker Count}- they took up their 
residence at Bradford, Mass., where he died on the 12th of March, 
1903. 

Mrs. Small and two sons survive him. 



Mrs. F. K. SmalL 



Mrs. Jeanette ^^^ Small, wife of Capt. F. K. Small, and sister 
to Mrs. John Cook was born at Welchville, Maine, in the year 
1839. 

Her maiden name was Washburn, and she is a relative of the 
celebrated W^ashburn family of Maine, that sent five brothers to 
Congress, four of whom were members of the House of Rep- 
resentatives at the same time. One of them afterwards a 
United States senator from Minnesota, another a governor of 
Wisconsin and still another. Elihu B. Washburn was minister to 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 409 

France during" Lincoln's administration, and had it not been for 
his powerful influence and persistent efforts, it is doubtful if 
Gen. Grant would ever have been advanced to the head of the 
Union Army. 

Mrs. Small is the namesake of the wife of Elihu B. Wash- 
burn, whose name was jeanette. 



Paul C. Sletten. 



Paul C. Sletten was born in Kvam, Gulbrandsdalen. Norway, 
February 26, 1841. He was the second eldest of four brothers 
and having" lost his father through his early death, he soon struck 
out to work his own way through life. From the time he was 
fourteen years old he worked in different positions, meanwhile 
improving every opportunity for study and education. 

At the age of twenty-one he went to work on a government 
railroad then under construction at Hadeland, Norway. At this 
time he found opportunity for studying" civil engineering and 
also commenced to read English. In 1867 he was married to 
Kari Berger of Hadeland, Norway, and two years later emigrated 
to the United States, landing in New York July 13, 1869. 

These were the days nf the building" of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad and fortified with letters of recommendation and creden- 
tials from Norwegian government engineers (among them one 
from Chief Engineer Pihl), he soon obtained a responsible posi- 
tion with the Northern Pacific Contractors. 

In the fall of 1870 a railroad camp was established at Oak 
Lake and work continued there throughout the winter. Here he 
was joined bv his wife and at this time took as a homestead the 
northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 139, Range 42 where 
they established their residence. 

He continued with the railroad people until the road reached 
Bismarck in 1873 when he returned to his home. 

Oak Lake was during" the railroad construction days a lively 
trading post and the surrounding countrv began to develop rapidly. 

Mr. Sletten was a man of great natural ability, an indefatigable 
worker and soon became deeply interested in the upbuilding and 
welfare of the new and promising settlement, taking a prominent 
place among the sturdy pioneer residents of Becker County. He 
was employed as clerk and manager in stores at Oak Lake and 



4IO A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

later at Audiiljon, Minn, and after Becker County was organized 
he was in 1873 elected clerk of the District Court. 

In 1875 he received from President Grant the appointment as 
receiver of public funds of the United States Land Office at Detroit. 
He was reappointed to this position in 1879, the office then having 
been removed to Crookston. His family followed him there in 
1880. He retained his Becker County interests and was frequently 
seen among his numerous Becker County friends. He was on in- 
timate terms with many of the leading public men of his day and 
prominent in the councils of his party. In politics he was a staunch 
Republican and fought many hard battles for his party. In the 
famous Nelson-Kindred congressional campaign he threw his 
strength with the "Little Norwegian from Alexandria" and was 
credited with a good share of the Nelson victory. 

In 1883 he was again appointed receiver, thus having the honor 
of being appointed to the same office by three different presidents, 
but served only one year of his third term. He died at his Crookston 
home of inflammation of the bowels, July 8th, 1884. and is survived 
by the widow, Mrs. Kari Sletten and five daughters. 

The family later removed to their Oak Lake homestead where 
they built a comfortable home and continued to reside until 1902 
when they sold the farm and Mrs. Sletten established her resi- 
dence at Audubon, ]\Iinn. 

The surviving children are: Mrs. Josephine S. Bailey of Min- 
neapolis, Miss Caroline L. Sletten of Audubon, Mrs. Nicoline C 
Netland of Audubon, Mrs. Sophie W. Netland of Northfield, Minn, 
and Miss Cora P. Sletten of Audubon, Minn. 

A. O. Netland. 



Hon. James G. McGrew. 

James G. McGrew was Ijorn near Indianapolis, Indiana, De- 
cember 23, 1833, 'ii''*^! came to Freeborn County, Minn., in 1855. 
He enlisted in Company B, Fourth Minnesota Infantry, and w'as 
stationed at Fort Ridgely, Minnesota, during the summer of 1862, 
participating in the battle of Redwood, and in the defence of 
Fort Ridgley against the Sioux Indias, in which battle twenty- 
five of its members were killed and were buried near where the 
fort stood. Captain Timothy Sheehan and Lieutenant McGrew 
were the two heroes of the battle. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 411 

He was afterwards with his regiment in the siege of Corinth, 
the siege of Vicksburg and several other battles, remaining with 
his regiment to the close of the war, being mustered out in Ala- 
bama Sept. 6, 1865. 

He located in Fillmore County, and in 1868 was elected to the 
state legislature, and removed to Becker County in the spring of 
1871, taking a homestead on the southeast cjuarter of Section 10 
in Audubon Township. He was admitted to the bar in 1872 and 
in the fall of 1873 was elected to the office of county attorney, 
which office he held for four years. He removed to Crookston in 
1879. Mrs. West. 

Captain ]\IcGrew died at St. Paul on the 30th day of January, 
1907. 

]Mrs. Hattie E. Goodrich of Oak Lake died on February 24th. in her 
37th year, followed by the death of her husband, Guy H. Goodrich, on 
December 6th. Mr. Goodrich was born in Attica, New York; came to 
Crow Wing in 1869; followed up the N. P. R. R. and came here in 1870. He 
was engaged with Fletcher & Bly Co., contractors- He took a farm at 
Oak Lake on which he lived until his death. Mrs. Goodrich was, in pre- 
vious years of her life, connected with the Baptist church at Milwaukee. 

On Nov. 22nd William McKinstry "fell on sleep." His had been 
an eventful life. Born at Westminster, Vt., on June 14th, 1795, he went 
as a 3'oung- man to western New York. He was ordained a deacon of the 
INIethodist Episcopal Church by Bishop Elijah Hedding, in the village 
of Perry, N. Y., September 24th, 1837, and became a circuit rider of 
that church on a salary of about $100 a year and necessary traveling 
expenses. For between twenty and thirty years he labored in western 
New York along the Alleghany River, and in northern Pennsylvania, spend- 
ing most of his time on horseback, traversing the country, fording rivers, 
holding camp-meetings, attending revivals, preaching and praying wherev- 
er he found opportunity, and dealing with the spiritual interests and ex- 
periences of all sorts of people. He came into Stearns County, Minn., in 
1867, and to Becker County in the fall of 1871. He passed away at 
the home of his son, L. C. ^IcKinstry, at Audubon, a good man and 
full of years of service for his Divine ]\Iaster in the ^lethodist Episcopal 
Church. 

He died November 22, 1882. 

^Irs. West. Rev. Geo. W. Brownjohn. 



412 A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 



Chapter XXIII. 



LAKE PARK TOWNSHIP. 

The first settlers in Lake Park Township were George Os- 
borne and Daniel McKay, who came into the township in April, 
1870. They located on Section 36. and what has since been 
called the Jonas Errickson farm was one of their claims. They 
were both single men and left the conntry soon after they had 
pro\-ed np on their land. 

The next settler was John Cromb, who came into the town- 
ship on the 20th of May, 1870, and took np land on Sections 26, 
34 and 35. The same farm is now the home of John O'Day. 

^Irs. John Cromb came with him, and was the first white 
woman who settled in the townshi]). 



John Cromb. 

John Cromb was born in Perthshire, Scotland, on the 27th day 
of February, 1843, and came to the United States in June, 1S69. 
He came directly to Balmoral, Otter Tail County, Minn., where 
he remained until the next spring" when he came to Becker Coun- 
ty, locating- in Lake Park Township on the 20th day of ^lay, 1870. 

Mr. Cromb was a member of the first board of county com- 
missioners of Becker County, being appointed to that ofiice by 
Governor Horace Austin at the time of the organization of the 
county in March, 1871. 

He was the first county auditor elected by the people, which 
office he held until the fall of 1881 when he resigned to accept 
the appointment of register of the United States Land ( )fiice at 
Crookston, Minn., which ofiice he held until after the election of 
President Cleveland in 1884. 

Since that time he has been president of the Merchants' Na- 
tional Bank of Crookston. where he has resided since the fall of 
1881. 

Mrs. F. M. Higley, now of Spokane Falls, Wash., who came 
to Lake Park ToAvnship early in June, 1870, says: 

We came to Becker County on the loth day of June, 1870. We had 
four children. There were ten others in the party; Harry Chamberlain, 





JOHN CROMB. 



CHRIST E. BJORGE. 




OI.F. BJORCIE. 



OLIVER TAYLOR. 



414 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

wife and one child; John Higley, wife and three children; James N. Cham- 
berlain and Charlie Morgan. Abner and John Chamberlain did not come 
at that time. 

I think Wash. Dixon came a little later than we. He was not with our 
party. We came a few days after John Cromb, George Osborne and Dan 
McKay. 

We left St. Charles, Minn., on the loth day of May, with ox teams 
and covered wagons, arriving in what is now Lake Park Township just 
one month from the time we started, the loth of June. The weather was 
very rainy, and as we had to cook by camp-fires it was rather unpleasant 
at times, but on the whole we had rather an enjoyable time. Flora Moore 
taught the first school in Lake Park Township. 

Mrs. Frank M. Higley. 



HISTORY OF LAKE PARK TOWNSHIP. 

Bv Christen E. Bjorge. 

Christen E. Bjorge is one of the old settlers of this county. He 
is a native of Norway, and was born in Ringibn, Gudbransdalen. 
on the 6th day of October, 1850. He is the son of Erick and 
Mary Bjorge. Mr. Bjorge. the subject of this sketch, remained in 
his native land attending school until 1867, and at the age of 
seventeen he emigrated to the United States and settled in Ver- 
non County, Wisconsin, where he remained for three years. To 
get a somewhat connected idea of Mr. Bjorge's history, I will in 
his own words give the following taken from the Becker County 
Journal : 

"To get a somewhat connected idea of what I am about to re- 
late it will be better to begin at the time I left Coon Prairie, Wis- 
consin, and started on my romantic search for land. The day 
dawned on which I decided to start ; the second day of May, 1870. 
Many friends were present to bid us good-by and wish us good 
luck on our journey. It was hard to bid these friends good-by, but 
our decision could not be changed ; we must look for a home but 
where we knew not. Still we would follow Greeley's advice and 
"Go West." The oxen bought for the occasion were hitched up 
and off we started sometimes at a gallop, sometimes in the road 
and sometimes out as they were unbroken and would mind noth- 
ing. Thus we journeyed until about to ascend a steep hill which 
leads from Coon Prairie to what was known as the Dutch Ridge. 
Before we reached the top, the oxen lost all patience and made a 
manoeuver which overturned the wagon and broke the tongue and 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 415 

finally they got loose. We lashed the broken tongue and continued 
our journey, arriving at La Crosse late that night, tired and dis- 
couraged by our first day's trip. We partook of a meager supper, 
crept into our wagon, and soon fell into a refreshing sleep. 

The next day we left La Crosse, crossing- the Mississippi on a 
ferry. On the Minnesota side the bank of the river was very 
steep and we came near having an accident. Our untrained oxen 
again showed their contrariness by backing up instead of going 
forward and another step backward would have plunged the whole 
outfit into the Mississippi, which here with majestic strength and 
splendor rushes by on its way to the gulf, ready to swallow and 
carry along whatever came in its way. But good fortune assisted 
us. The wagon was stopped by a projecting rock. We unhitched 
the oxen in a hurry, and drove them to the top of the hill. We 
had to unload and carry everything- up the hill by hand. A passer- 
by with a team of horses pulled the wagon up for us, and we again 
proceeded on our journey. We cast a last look back to bid our dear 
Wisconsin good-by. La Crosse lay calmly smiling in the rays of 
the rising sun, but a treacherous enemy, the Mississippi, stretched 
out between us. 

This early in the spring the pasturage for our oxen was poor, 
and consequently we had to proceed very slowly the first week so 
as not to tire our animals. To mention all the daily occurrences 
would take up too much space. But I thought it would interest 
both old and young to hear something about the "redskins" at 
this time when they were a constant menace to those breaking up 
the prairie or clearing the forest to get a home for themselves and 
their families. The young people of to-day can hardly imagine 
what the pioneers had to experience, sufifer and overcome. 

We moved slowly onward and arrived at Otter Tail City about 
the middle of June, and met several land seekers who I will men- 
tion individually. 

Martin Olson was just back from a trip to Becker County, 
where he had found a home and was to return with his family. 
Mr. Olson described the country with brightest colors, and all the 
company agreed to go and look it over. From Otter Tail City (at 
that time an insignificant Indian village) to Becker County, there 
were no roads, only Indian trails. To go over these roads with 
heavy loads was next to impossible in many places. In the 
southern part of Becker County we had to cross a swamp which 



4i6 A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 

caused us much trouble and hardship ; but cross it we must as we 
could discover no way around it. Consequently we had to bridge 
the swamp which took both time and strength, as the necessary 
materials had to be carried in. At last the bridge was finished, but 
it was not the best. Then seven or eight yoke of oxen were 
hitched to each wagon, and off we started across the swamp. Here 
it was necessary to hurry along the rear teams, and when these 
fell through the leaders were hurried on to pull out those which 
fell through the bridge. In this way we finally got everything 
across. 

The caravan proceeded slowly until we arrived at Detroit Lake. 
Here we drove along the beach until we came to a place where a 
stream flowed into the lake. To cross this stream was next to 
impossible. In the first place it was very deep and there were 
high banks on the other side which we could not climb. In order 
to cross we would either have to build a bridge or drive into the 
lake around the mouth of the stream. We decided to do the 
latter. We raised the wagon boxes so as to save our provisions 
if possible. The water, however, was deeper than we had antici- 
pated, and several got their baggage soaked. When in the stream, 
a yoke of our oxen lost all patience and seemingly thought it better 
to end their miserable existence by committing suicide. Where 
the water was deepest and onl}^ the oxen's horns were visible, they 
lay down and disappeared from sight. At this time good advice 
was appreciated. Chains were brought in a burr}', and with the 
aid of two yoke of cattle we saved both the oxen and the wagon. 
The poor animals that again saw daylight against their wills made 
a few grimaces, but otherwise seemed no worse off for their 
plunge bath. 

June 24th, 1870, we passed the site on which Detroit, our 
county seat, now stands ; the plains looked lonely and desolate. 
Who would at that time have thought that this would have been 
our county metropolis, and from its county halls justice would be 
dealt out to our people. We proceeded steadily though slowly 
further and further west, nearer and nearer to our goal. Four or 
five miles west of Detroit the country l)ecame more open, being 
mostly prairie with groves here and there, with lakes, full of fish, 
scattered in all directions. 

We soon arrived at the place where Lake Park is now situated. 
We halted and pitched camp, were satisfied with our surroundings 



A PioNivKR IlisTdUv oi" Becker County. 417 

and the beautiful Goshen we had taken possession of. Not least 
did the women enjoy the assurance that now their trials and suf- 
ferings were at an end, and they could view the future with hope- 
ful eyes. The trip had lasted nearly two months, and you need 
not wonder that we felt the need of a rest, a chance for a general 
cleaning up. The next morning we were all early on our feet, 
driven by the blood-thirsty, long-legged mosciuitoes which seemed 
to have no pity for the pale-faces who now made their conquest 
here. The day dawned clear and bright, and when the sun's 
rays caressed the tops of the trees, the numerous birds struck 
up a beautiful morning song, expressing their happiness and 
satisfaction at being able to live and Iniild their homes in this 
part of nature's domain. The land seekers breakfasted, and were 
soon ready to strike out for the choice of a home. Each started 
in his own direction, while the cattle were left at the camp to be 
cared for by the women and children. By nightfall most of the 
land seekers were back, and had found what they had sought, a 
home for themselves and theirs. 

All took up land near the timber. The party, among the first 
settlers of this township, scattered as one after the other got ready 
and moved his family and belongings to the place chosen for their 
future home. AA"e arrived at the place in Section 8 which be- 
came our home on June 28th, 1870. 

The first thing we did was to build a claim shanty, its size was 
ten by twelve feet, seven feet high at the ridge. I had half a 
window facing the south. The roof was composed of poplar poles 
and hay, with clay on top. It soon showed that we were not 
master builders, as all the rain that fell on the roof streamed 
through into what we called a bed. The bed was made from a 
couple of oak logs three feet long, laid six feet apart and covered 
with poles. There was no floor in the cabin, and when it rained 
there was little comfort within. Table we had none, but used a 
box which we had brought with us. We made stools out of oak 
logs, leaving a part of a limb on for a handle. There was little 
said about the necessary housefurnishing, as lumber and the neces- 
sary tools were not to be had. All we had was an old ax, and with 
such a tool it was hard to manufacture the furniture. In the 
summer of 1870 we broke a few acres wdiich were seeded in 1871, 
but the grasshoppers came and took it all ; the same happened in 
1872. In 1873, we had no grasshoppers but then we had a very 



4i8 A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 

small area seeded. The reason for this was that so many were of 
the opinion that we would again be visited by the grasshoppers, 
and also that so many were too poor to buy seed wheat. In 1874-5, 
the grasshoppers again ravaged the country so that there was 
nothing left for bread for the poor farmers. When I say that the 
grasshoppers were so numerous that they stopped railroad trains 
you will perhaps doubt it, but it is a fact that the insects would 
alight on the rails in such numbers that the rails would become 
slippery, and the trains could not move. 

These continuous failures, together with other obstacles and 
disappointments, caused many to lose heart. This must be said 
of the Norwegian ; he is tough and determined to hold out ; at 
least that was the case here." During these years of privation 
few moved away to other localities, but most of the first settlers 
remained. Many will perhaps wonder how so many could hold 
out for such a length of time without getting any crops. It must 
be said that the railroad, the Northern Pacific, which runs 
through here was built to Lake Park in the fall of 187 1, and this 
gave the farmers a chance to earn a little, both by their own work 
and the work of their ox teams. If the Northern Pacific had not 
been built at that time I dare say everybody would have been 
starved out of Becker County. 

Even when we first settled here we lived in constant fear of 
the many Indians we had to mingle with. They had their homes 
on the White Earth Reservation, in Becker County. It soon 
became apparent that the Indians were not friendly to the whites, 
who were overrunning their hunting grounds. 

In the fall of 1870 the Indians set fire to a stack of hay belong- 
ing to a farmer named Gunder Carlson, and when he went out to 
investigate he was shot from behind by an Indian. Mr. Carlson 
received six buckshot in the back and died two years later from the 
effects of the wounds. In the fall of 1871 a family by the name 
of Johnson were killed by the Indians, and in the spring of 1872 
another family consisting of five persons were killed. These atroci- 
ties put fear and unrest in our minds, and made the situation very 
grave. 

In May, 1872, a message was sent out that the Indians were 
gathered on the White Earth Reservation for a council. Their 
war spirit gathered strength as their meeting progressed. The 
Indians had even donned their war paint, and were dancing 



A Pionee;r History or" Becker County. 419 

the war dance. There was at that time a minister on the reser- 
vation, who sent the settlers word about the doings of the In- 
dians. When war-like rumors came out, the settlers of Lake 
Park Township gathered at Lake Park to discuss what had best 
be done. The most careful were chosen as leaders, and it was 
decided to build a fort on a little hill south of where our peace- 
ful little village. Lake Park, now stands, with extensions on each 
corner so that firing could be done along the sides of the fort 
from the inside, railroad ties were set upright in these ditches, 
and the dirt tramped in again. Port-holes were arranged here and 
there around the fort. Women and children were brought in- 
side the stockade. Some of the men were placed as sentinels 
while others were stationed at the port-holes to receive the ex- 
pected enemy. The settlers remained here for several days. 
Meanwhile there was nobody at home to care for the stock, so 
these animals were obliged to shift for themselves as best they 
could. The warlike Indians did not come. The reason was that 
the above mentioned minister had brought his influence to bear 
upon them. Their minister was a steadfast friend of the white 
settler and he, next to God, m'ust be thanked for our deliverance. 
When the settlers received the good news that all danger was 
over for the time being, each one proceeded to his own home. In 
1876 there was another fear of Indian uprising, but then, as before, 
it was frustrated by the peaceful ones who were more friendly 
to the whites. 

Thirty-five years ago nobody would have thought that at this 
time Becker County would become such an important county in the 
state. It is not only one of the handsomest counties in the state, 
but the farmers and the inhabitants are as a whole well-to-do, not 
to say rich. Especially in the western part we see on every hand 
well cultivated farms and substantial buildings. 

Large herds of cattle are now grazing where not many years 
ago herds of buflfalo were found. 

C. E. BjORGE. 

Mr. C. E. Bjorge was united in marriage to Miss Dina Hamre 
on the 28th day of October, 1875. Miss Hamre was born in 
Goodhue County, Minnesota, and was the daughter of John and 
Emily Hamre, both natives of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Bjorge 
have been blessed with six children, Edwin, Julia, Annie, Oscar, 
Rhoda, and Leona. 



420 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

^Ir. Bjorge was appointed ])ostmaster at Lake Park under 
Cleveland's first administration. He conducted the ofifice with credit 
and satisfaction both to himself and all concerned. He was presi- 
dent of the village for a few years, then assessor of the township, 
and Avas census enumerator in 1880 and 1890. and clerk and 
member of the board of education. 

Mr. Bjorge is a man of good business abilities and qualifications, 
and has been successful in whatever business he has been engaged. 



Ole E. Bjorge. 

The Scandinavian peninsula has been conspicuous for the pro- 
duction of a strong, honest, energetic type of men, and has furnished 
some of the most progressive and enterprising of the settlers of 
the Northwest. 

They have helped to bring this region into a high state of 
development and civilization. They have proved themselves to be 
progressive, intelligent, and worthy citizens. The early settlers of 
Lake Park Township were mostly Scandinavians, and no more 
thrifty agricultural locality can be found in the Northwest. Ole 
E. Bjorge, the subject of this biographical sketch, was the first 
settler in the western part of Lake Park Township and has aided 
materially in its progress and development. 

Ole J. Bjorge was born in Ringibu, Gudbrandsdalen, Norway, 
September loth, 1845, and was raised on a farm in his native 
land. His father, Eric O. Bjorge, was born in Norway, March 
25th, 1 82 1, and died at Lake Park, Minnesota, December 20th, 
1902. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Christenson 
Losness, was born in Norway, and died at Coon Prairie, Wiscon- 
sin, November 20th, 1869. The parents of Ole E. Bjorge were not 
people of wealth, and when only a young boy he was put to heavy 
work. On April 6th, 1866, he bade adieu to his home, parents and 
friends and set sail for America. The journey across the sea was 
made in a sail ship, and it took seven weeks to reach America. Mr. 
Bjorge was the first of the family to come to America, and was 
the means of the family settling in this country. In 1868, Mr. 
Bjorge was married to Mary H. Sandsness. Her parents, Mr. and 
Mrs. Halvor Sandsness,. were both born in Norway. She was born 
in Sandsness, Bjorsogton, Norway, November 14th, 1845. ^"^l came 



A PioNEUR History of Becker County. 421 

to America in 1866. Her parents are both dead; her father having 
died in Norway and her mother at Rushford, Minnesota. 

Three children have been born of this marriage, namely : Henry, 
born March 7th, 1871 ; Edwin, born May 17, 1878; and Minnie, 
now Mrs. H. Himrum, born December 8th, 1882. Ole E. Bjorge 
and his brother, Christen, arrived in Becker County, Minnesota, 
in June, 1870, coming all the way acoss the country from Wis- 
consin with an ox team and a covered wagon. Detroit then con- 
sisted of a few Indian tents, and the country was entirely without 
roads. Ole E. Bjorge and his brother, Christen Bjorge, both took 
claims in Lake Park Township. Ole built a house in Section 8, 
which was the first log cabin in the western part of Lake Park 
township. The first years were full of hardship, and all the farm- 
ing was done with oxen, and supplies had to be hauled a distance 
of over one hundred miles ; besides the grasshoppers destroyed the 
crops for several years. The Indians were a source of dread and 
caused a great deal of trouble and anxiety to the early settlers. The 
country was then filled with wild game, and the Indians looked 
with suspicion upon the invasion of the white man which would 
eventually decrease the size of the territory over which he could 
roam and hunt. Several families were massacred by the Indians 
in the adjoining townships, and the report helped to spread con- 
sternation among the settlers. It became customary for the settlers 
in the evenings to take a look around the country to ascertain if 
there were any suspicious Indians gathered around. One evening 
in the fall of 1871, as Ole Bjorge was spying around from the top 
of a hill to see if there were any Indians in view, he saw a large 
prairie fire in the north and against the flames he could plainly see 
a crowd of men coming towards his farm. In a moment, he heard 
several shots discharged in the same direction and Ole felt certain 
it meant an Indian outbreak, and he ran to the house and told the 
family that the Indians were coming and that they should run to 
the home of G. T. Johnson, which w^as only a few rods away. He 
then warned his father, Erick, and family, and they all rushed to 
the home of Mr. Johnson. Here they made preparations for self- 
defense. Johnson was stationed at the door with a gun and Erick 
held the powder horn and the bullet bag and Ole held an ax. The 
women and children were in the cellar. The house was surrounded 
with heavy timber on all sides and at a short distance below the 
house was a large slough filled with heavy grass. Ed. Bjorge, 



422 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

who was then a boy, crawled down the hill and hid himself in the 
heavy grass of the slough and in case of an attack by the Indians, 
Ed. would probably have been the only one to survive. There 
during that long and strenuous night stood the brave and fearless 
men, ready to sacrifice their lives, in a new and unsettled country, 
for the protection of themselves and families. Early in the morn- 
ing, while it was still dark, an object was discerned crawling up the 
hill toward the house. "There is one of the Indians," whispered 
Johnson, "and in a second he will be dead." He raised the hammer, 
put the gun to his shoulder, took aim to be sure of the object, and 
was ready to fire. "Wait," whispered Ole, "it looks like Ed." 
Johnson hesitated a minute and in the meantime it was discovered 
that it was actually "Ed." The night was cold and being chilled 
to the bones Ed. was unable to hold out in the slough any longer, 
and made up his mind to seek shelter in the house. It was a 
narrow escape from meeting a tragic death. Morning at last 
dawned and no Indians had been seen. Later it was learned that 
the men who had been seen on the prairie in the evening were not 
Indians at all but a number of railway men who had gone to attend 
a dance and on their way discharged their revolvers. 

Mr. Bjorge was a hard and efficient worker, and as the result 
of many years of labor he had converted the farm into one of the 
finest and most productive in Becker County. Additional land 
was acquired by purchase so that the farm now includes three 
hundred and sixty acres. 

A complete set of good and substantial buildings have been 
erected which have converted the farm into a home of more than 
usual comfort. 

In July, 1899, Mr. Bjorge was stricken with paralysis and died 
on the 9th of July of that year. He was buried in the cemetery of 
the Norwegian Synod at Lake Park. Mr. Bjorge was highly 
esteemed and respected by all those with whom he was acquainted, 
and the funeral was one of the largest ever held in the western 
part of Becker County. It must be said to his credit that he always 
intended that justice should be observed among men, and all his 
dealings were marked with the highest degree of honesty and in- 
tegrity. He stood for a "square deal." Politically he was a Dem- 
ocrat and attended numerous conventions of his party. He was 
a memljer of the Lutheran church, as was also his familv, and bv 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 423 

his death the community lost a most worthy citizen and one of 
the pioneers of Becker County. 

Henry O. Btorge. 



Jonas Erickson. 

Jonas Erickson was born August i6th, 1848, in IModelford, 
Sweden. His parents were farmers. He came to America in 
1857 and settled in Iowa. He was married to Olava Aas, a native 
of Sweden. Their marriage has been blessed with six children, 
of which Lewis, Annie and Christian are still living. Three are 
dead. 

On the nth day of June, 1870, he settled on his farm on Sec- 
tions 2 and 3 in Lake Park Township. 

On the 19th day of September, 187 1, he was elected chairman 
of the board of supervisors. On the 21st day of December, 1871, 
he was elected the first treasurer of School District No. 2, and on 
the 1 2th day of March, 1872, he was elected assessor in this town- 
ship. 

Gustav Jacobson. 

Gustav Jacobson is one of the early settlers of this township. 
There are perhaps few who occupy a more prominent place than 
the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. 

Mr. Jacobson is a native of Norway. He was born in 1848. 
Came to America in the year 1866. In 1876 Jacobson was united 
in marriage to Miss Inga Olson, a native of Norway. Their 
marriage has been blessed with two children — Julius and Caroline. 
In the summer of 1870, he came to this township, and settled on 
Section 30, where he has carried on agricultural operations and 
has been one of the most successful farmers in this township. 



Oliver Taylor. 

One of the first settlers in the western part of Becker County 
was Oliver Taylor. Mr. Taylor was a native of the state of Ohio, 
being born there in the year 1828. While a boy he accompanied 
his parents to Indiana and in the early "fifties" went to Minnesota 
and settled in Kandiyohi County. In 1862, however, just before 
the Indian outbreak, he returned to Indiana. After a few years' 



424 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



stay he again went to Minnesota and arrived in Becker County in 
the summer of 1870. He in company with two other gentlemen 
by the name of Clark and Haney first stopped at Richwood, where 
Mr. Haney located on the Buffalo River with a view of building a 
mill. Mr. Taylor left Richwood and took up a claim on Section 
2 of the township of Lake Park, where he remained during 
the following winter with nothing but his dog and horses for his 




O. I. BERG. 



GUS. JACOBSON. 



companions. In the summer of 187 1, he brought up his family 
to live on the claim where they together endured the various trials 
of frontier life. In 1876 he sold his farm to Thomas H. Canfield 
and with his family moved to Tennessee, thence to Missouri, where 
his wife died in 1878. With his two daughters, he returned to 
Lake Park where they remained a short time, and then settled in 
Marshall County, Minn., and where he was elected the first audi- 
tor of that county. 

Mr. Taylor died in Lake Park Township on the fourth of 
November, 1899. 

George Goodrich came here in the summer of 1870 and settled 
on Section 14. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 425 



Gudm F. Johnson. 

Mr. Gudm F. Johnson was born in Norway, June nth, 1844. 
His parents were both Norwegians. He came to the United States 
in August, 1866, sta>-e(l a few years in Wisconsin and then moved to 
Minnesota. Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Anne E. Bjorge, May 
23rd, 1869. He arrived at Oak Lake, Becker County, June 28th, 
1871, and later in the same year purchased some railroad land in 
the western part of Lake Park Township. At the first town meet- 
ing held in the township of Lake Park, at that time called the town 
of Liberty, Mr. Johnson was elected on the board of township 
supervisors. He stayed in Becker County a short time, and went 
to Minneapolis in 1872. At Minneapolis he became associated with 
Mr. Jedde in editing and publishing a Norwegian weekly news- 
paper by the name of Budstckkcii. This was a Democratic organ, 
and for many years w^as the leading Norwegian newspaper in 
the state. 



Even Nelson. 



Even Nelson was born in Lillejord, Telemarken, Norway, June 
23rd, 1842. In 1859, Mr. Nelson, for the purpose of obtaining an 
education, entered a seminary and graduated from the same in the 
spring of 1861. In the- fall following he was given a position as 
school teacher, and followed this profession for a period of six years. 

In 1867, he was married to Birget Overson, w4io was also a 
native of Norway. She is a relative of Halvor Steenerson, the 
present congressman from this district. Mr. Nelson made up his 
mind to try his fortune across the sea, and shortly after his marriage, 
he and his wife started on their voyage to the United States, coming 
to Kashkenomghe Prairie, Dane County, Wisconsin. He remained 
there for three years. During this time he was engaged in teaching 
the Norwegian language in the adjoining Scandinavian districts. 
The homesteads in this district were all taken up, and as Mr. Nelson 
did not possess sufficient means to purchase land he made up his 
mind to go where he could obtain a free farm of his own. Con- 
sequently on the 17th day of May, 1870, he and his wife, in com- 
pany with several others, left Madison, Wisconsin, and on the 3d 
day of July arrived in the western part of Becker County. It will 



426 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 

be observed that the trip consumed one month and a half. This 
was due to the fact that the journey had to be made by the use of 
oxen, some of which were old and slow. And also to the fact 
that the long distance had to be traveled without any roads what- 
ever. Mr. Nelson took up a homestead on Section 30 of Lake 
Park Township, on which he still resides. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson 
have been blessed with a family of nine children, nearly all of whom 
are full grown and all are living. Four of them are married. Mr. 
Nelson has not been lacking in energy and thrift in the building 
up of a comfortable home. His farm, by successful cultivation, 
has been brought to a high degree of fertility, and the well-con- 
structed buildings bear evidence of success and prosperity. 



Johannes Bjornstad. 

Johannes Bjornstad was born in Norway in August, 1814, came 
to America in 1869. and in July, 1870, located on Section 24 of 
Lake Park Township, where he continued to reside until the time of 
his death, which occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. 
George Goodrich, on the 22d day of October, 1899. He was the 
father of Olof, Michael and John Bjornstad. 



M. Bjornstad. 



Mr. AI. Bjornstad is the owner of a fine farm in the eastern 
part of Lake Park Township. He is a Norwegian, born in 
Roken, Norway, September 29th, 1849. ^^^ his youth he decid- 
ed to leave his native country and emigrate to the United States 
and in June, 1868, he arrived in America. Inspired with the 
hope of finding a home of his own he proceeded to Minnesota 
and on the 4th day of July, 1870, arrived in Becker County. 
He took up a homestead in Section 13 of Lake Park Town- 
ship, where he still resides. On July 29th, 1873, Mr. Bjornstad 
was married to Miss Josephine Halvorson, and at the present 
time Mr. and Mrs. Bjornstad are the proud parents of twelve 
children, six boys and six girls, George, Joseph, Bendike, Wil- 
helm, Gabriel, Ferdinand; and Cornelia, Helena, Marie, Nora, 
Julia and Alma. Mr. Bjornstad has held several township of- 
fices such as supervisor, road overseer, and school director. In 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 427 

politics, Mr Bjornstad has been associated with the repubhcan 
party. He is also a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church. 
By active work and industry he has constructed on his farm 
large and comfortable buildings in which he and his family 
now enjoy the comfort and blessings of modern farm life. 



Olaus Bjornstad. 

Olaus Bjornstad resides on Section 13 in Lake Park Town- 
ship ; he has made farming his vocation, and is one of the 
most prominent farmers in the eastern part of the township. 
Mr. Bjornstad is a native of Norway, being born in Roken, 
Norway, February 21st, 1847. ^^ the age of tw^enty-four, full 
of vigor and strength with the hope of finding a place where he 
could use his energy to better advantage than in his native 
land, he made up his mind to go to America and after a success- 
ful voyage arrived in the United States in June, 1869. Having 
heard of the fertile land in Minnesota, Mr. Bjornstad proceeded 
westward in search of a home. He finally arrived in Becker 
County and on the 8th day of November, 1870, took up a home- 
stead in the eastern part of Lake Park Township. He worked 
on the road bed of the Northern Pacific Railway during the 
summer of 1871, and during the fall and summer of 1872 served 
as watchman on the fencing train of the Northern Pacific. Mr. 
Bjornstad was also engaged as clerk in the store of Holmes & 
Phinney in Detroit, and after serving in this capacity for one 
year and a half he moved out to his homestead. 

May 20th, 1875, he was married to Marie Beaver. As a 
result of this marriage nine children were born, most of whom 
are now full grown. Of these there are six girls, Clara, Thea, 
Selma, Olga, Inga and Holda; also three boys, John, Oscar and 
Adolph. 

He has held many positions of honor and trust. In the 
fall of 1871 he was present at a meeting at which the organiza- 
tion of the township was affected and was elected one of its 
first officers. He served as county commissioner at the time 
of the building of the Becker County court-house and for many 
years he has served as a member of the board of supervisors, 
and also as a member of the school board. At the present time 
he is chairman of the board of town supervisors. He is a mem- 
ber of the Norwegian Lutheran church. 



428 A I'loxEER History of Becker County. 

Mr. Bjornstad has put up many fine and substantial build- 
ings on his farm which show evidence of the general prosperity, 
so characteristic among the farmers in the western part of Beck- 
er County. 



Andrew A. Houglum. 

Andrew A. Houglum was born at Arnefjord, Sogn, Nor- 
way, August 27th, 1855. H^s parents were of Norwegian birth 
and lived on a farm, but were in ])oor circumstances. In those 
days the people made their own clothing; the men wore knee 
pants and long stockings. Wooden shoes were of universal 
use. The children, as soon as they l^ecame of sufficient age, 
learned to make their own wooden shoes, and at the age of 
twelve Mr. Houglum made his first pair. In 1869, at the age 
of fourteen he in company with his parents left his home on his 
journey for America. Before they reached Bergen the steamer 
on which they were passengers struck on a rock, but fortunate- 
ly the ship was not seriously damaged. At Bergen they boarded 
a sailing ship, and at the end of three weeks landed safely in 
Quebec, Canada. From there they proceeded to Goodhue Coun- 
ty, Minnesota, arriving on the 15th day of June. Mr. Houglum 
heard of the fertile soil in the great Red River country, and in 
1871 in company with his brother started for Becker County. 
He took up a homestead in the western part of Lake Park Town- 
ship. His brother Ole also took up a homestead nearl)y ; he 
died some years ago. 

When Mr. Houglum left Goodhue County, all he possessed 
was fifty dollars. The journey to Becker County was made 
with oxen and was necessarily slow and tedious. He was mar- 
ried in 1883, ^iid as the result of his marriage eight children 
have been born. 

Mr. Houglum has always taken an active interest in the 
development of the western part of Becker County, and for 
many years has been a member of the board of supervisors for 
Lake Park Township. In politics he has been associated with the 
principles of the republican party. He is also a member of 
the Norwegian Lutheran church. 

Christen E. Bjorge. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 429 



Nels Nelson. 

Nels Nelson is a prosperous farmer residing- on Section 6 
of Lake Park Township. Mr. Nelson was born in Appelbo, 
Dalarne, Sweden, April 5th, 1837. He was married in Sweden 
when he was twenty-two years old, and at the age of thirty- 
three set sail for America with his wife and three children, ar- 
riving at New York, July 3d, 1870. From New York he pro- 
ceeded westward as far as Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he re- 
mained until the following- spring. Early in the spring he pur- 
chased a pair of horses and a bob-sleigh and with his family pro- 
ceeded toward the West. Arriving at Sauk Center, he left his 
family behind in a small log shanty and proceeded on the journey 
until he finally arrived at the place of John O. Johnson near 
Audubon. Being informed by Mr. Johnson that there were 
homesteads to be had, Mr. Nelson hurried back after his family 
and on the 4th day of April, 1871, they arrived sound and healthy 
in the northwestern part of Lake Park Township, where he de- 
cided to take a homestead. One month and four days were con- 
sumed in journeying from AA^isconsin to this place, because of 
snow-storms and the bad condition of the roads. The family 
had to walk nearly the entire distance. 

After a few years Mr. .Nelson acquired more land by pur- 
chase from the railroad company, so that his farm now comprises 
three hundred acres of the finest agricultural land. 

Mr. Nelson is a member of the Lutheran church, and has 
assisted in building one of the finest Lutheran churches in this 
part of the state. This church is situated in the northwestern 
part of Lake Park TowMiship, and has been constructed of brick 
and stone at the cost of twelve thousand dollars. This magnifi- 
cent edifice for religious worship stands as a living monument 
to the imtiring energy and the industry of the sturdy pioneers, 
who by the sacrifice of their labor and money have contributed 
to its construction. As has been related in the beginning of this 
sketch Mr. Nelson has been eminently successful in following 
the pursuits of agriculture. The numerous and well construct- 
ed buildings on his farm bear evidence of a successful and pros- 
perous life. 



430 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



John G. Norby. 
John G. Norby, one of the most successful and prosperous 
farmers of Becker County, resides on his farm in Section 5 
of Lake Park Township. Mr. Norby was born on the farm Ekern 
in Berum, Askers, Norway, November 17th, 1837. In 185 1, his 
father died and the following year Mr. Norby with his mother 
and five sisters and one brother removed to his grandfather's 
farm, Norby, where he lived until 1867. On June 21st, 1858, 
he was married to Thorena Larson. She was born on the 
I2th day of November, 1835, on a farm Okeri-Berum, Norway. 
On April 12th, 1867. Mr. Norby with his entire family consist- 
ing of his wife and five children, Gustav, Dorthea, Lousie, 
now Mrs. C. K. Ekern, Lars, Ludvig and Adolph, and also 
his mother and four sisters, took passage by steamship to the 
United States and arrived at Lansing, Allamakee County, Iowa, 
May I2th. He moved out to east Pain Creek Prairie to live 
with his brother-in-law Jens Okeri. During the summer he 
worked on the nearby farms, and was paid at the rate of one 
dollar per day. On May 14th, 1871, Mr. Norby, with his wife 
and six children, Henry Edward having been born in Fillmore 
County, started out with two yoke of oxen hitched to a prairie 
schooner, and one hundred and thirty-five dollars in his pocket 
to seek a home in the Northwest, and on the evening of June 
i6th arrived at the place of Ole E. Bjorge in the western part 
of Becker County. After looking over the land in various di- 
rections, Mr. Norby finally decided to locate on Section 5 in 
Lake Park Township and commenced at once the erection of a 
log cabin. In the fall he worked with his two yoke of oxen, 
in the cut of the Northern Pacific Railway, west of where the 
village of Lake Park is now located. The ^^^inter of 1871-2 
was cold and stormy and exceptionally hard, but the people, 
being all in the prime of life and full of strength and courage 
withstood the hardships remarkably well during these early 
years, which were filled with many hardships. The settlers were 
very sociable. During Christmas and other holidays several 
families were gathered together in the newly built log cabins, 
and spent the time in singing, story telling and various other 
amusements. During these years money was extremely scarce, 
but the people were full of energy, hope and happiness. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 431 

Mr. Xorby at v^arious times has added by purchase to the 
size of his farm, so that it now comprises an area of four hun- 
dred and twenty-five acres of as good agricultural land as can 
be found anywhere in the Northwest. Large and comfortable 
buildings have been erected, and on the farm may also be seen 
a fine herd of Red Polled cattle headed by thoroughbred sires. 

In politics Mr. Xorby has always adhered to the doctrines 
of the republican party ; he is a member of the Xorwegian 
Lutheran church, and is also one of the directors of the Becker 
County State Bank. 

Ingel Ukkestad. 

Ingel Ukkestad was born in Nannestad, X'orway, February 
7th, 1821. He came to the United States, July 12th, 1862, and 
after looking over the country in several localities he finally ar- 
rived in Becker County. He took up a homestead on Section 
4 in the township of Lake Park on the 6th day of July. 1871. 
Mr. Ukkestad was married to Marie Thoreson, April 27th, 1862. 
Three children have been born, John, Ludvig, and Albert. The 
eldest son John owns and operates a farm in the township of 
Cuba while Ludvig and Albert are attending to the manage- 
ment of the farm at home. 

For many years Mr. Ukkestad has been in feeble health 
and for that reason has been closely confined to his home. He 
is a member of the L'nited Lutheran church. 



L. W. Pederson. 



L. W . Pederson was born in Inderoen, Trondhjem, Xorway, 
January 23d, 1847. He left his native home in Norway, April 
25th, 1866, to seek his fortune in America. The ocean was 
crossed in a sailing vessel, and after a successful voyage he 
landed at Quebec, June 12th. Pie proceeded westward to Fill- 
more County, ^linnesota. In the winter of 1871 he proceeded 
northward in quest of a home, and arrived in the western part 
of Becker County on the 14th day of February that same year 
and took a homestead on Section 4 in the township of Lake 
Park. Mr. Pederson was married to Bergitha J. Engelstad on 
the 13th day of May, 1873. Mrs. Pederson died April 30th, 1901, 



432 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

and was buried at the Lutheran church cemetery at Lake Park. 
Mr. Pederson has held several positions of trust and honor. He 
served as the first clerk in school district No. i6, served in the 
capacity of assessor for the township of Lake Park during sever- 
al terms, and was also elected for many years as chairman of 
the board of supervisors. He acted as president of the Lake Park 
and Cuba Farmers' Insurance Company from the time it was 
organized until 1902. From 1875 to 1879 ^^^ served as county 
commissioner of Becker County. 

Mr. Pederson is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran 
church, and always took an active interest in religion. In poli- 
tics he has always been a staunch supporter of . Republican prin- 
ciples. On the 22d day of January, 1902, Mr. Pederson was 
married to Anna J. Skovdahl. As a result of this marriage two 
children have been born, Ingeborg Malena and Lydia Bergithe. 

Mr. Pederson conceived the idea of founding an orphans' 
home on his farm. With this idea in view additional buildings 
were constructed, and the Orphans' Home became an established 
fact. This institution is known as the Lake Park Orphans' 
Home. Mr. Pederson donated a portion of his farm to the 
support of this institution, additional land has been acquired 
by purchase, so that the property belonging to the institution 
comprises three hundred and sixty acres. At the present time 
in the neighborhood of one hundred children are cared for at 
the institution. The property is now owned by the United 
Lutheran Church. In 1902, Mr. Pederson moved to Halstad, 
Minnesota, where he purchased a farm and has since made his 
residence. 



Erick S. Quam. 

Mr. Quam was born in Hafslo, Norway, July 20th, 1834. 
His parents were farmers by occupation. In 1862, Mr. Quam 
was married to Christie Stokkenoo, of Lyster, Norway. They 
emigrated to America, and arrived at Albert Lea, Minnesota, 
in the summer of 1870. After having lived in Albert Lea one 
year they set out to seek their fortune in a new country and in 
August, 1871, they located on Section 30 where they still live. 

Mr. Quam purchased the improved claim of Gulbrand Erick- 
son, and later filed on a homestead. The first few years were full 
of hardships. The grasshoppers destroyed the crops for several 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 433 

years, and in 1875 a terrific hail storm ravaged the country. 
In 1872, the story was circulated that the Indians intended to 
kill the settlers, and in anticipation of this Mr. Quam took most 
of his personal effects with him and moved to Lake Park, where 
he and some of the other settlers commenced the construction 
of a fort to be used for the protection of themselves and families. 
Fortunately the Indian scare did not materialize. Mr. Quam 
is a member of the Lutheran church in which he has always 
been an earnest and conscientious worker. Mr. Quam is now 
the owner of a large and well cultivated farm on which have 
been erected costly and substantial buildings making a home 
where he may enjoy the cjuiet and comfort of life in his de- 
clining years. 

]\Ir. Jens P. Foss, of whom I have no history, came here in 
the spring of 1872, and settled on the southwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 16 (school land). 

O. I. Berg came here in the spring of 1872. 



Organization. 

The first township election was held at the house of M. L. 
Devereaux on Section 10, September 19th, 1871. John Cromb 
was elected moderator, AI. L. Devereaux, clerk; and Martin 
Olson, and Louis Johnson, judges of election. At this meeting 
the organization of the township was affected and it was named 
the township of Liberty. The following named persons were 
elected as the first officials of the new township. Supervisors, 
Jonas Erickson, chairman ; W. H. Chamberlain and G. F. John- 
son. M. L. Devereaux was elected town clerk ; Charles Smith 
treasurer; John Cromb and Jonas Erickson, justices of the peace 
and Frank Higley and Louis Johnson, constables. 

At a meeting held on the 21st day of October, 1871, the town- 
ship was organized into a school district called No. 2, with the 
following officers : M. L. Devereaux, clerk ; John Cromb, director 
and Jonas Erickson, treasurer. This district was set aside as 
illegally established. 

At this time there was no railway, and the nearest market 
place was over one hundred miles away. This was a long dis- 
tance to drive with oxen over poor roads to obtain the necessi- 
ties of life. In the summer of 1871, however, work was com- 



434 -^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

menced on the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 
A railroad station was established in the northern part of the 
township, and the name given to it was Lakeside. The building 
of the railroad put new life into the country. The settlers were 
given employment, money was put into circulation, stations 
were built, markets were opened, and the}- were enabled to 
sell their products to obtain the necessities of life and to procure 
the machinery so essential to successful cultivation and sub- 
jugation of the soil. The early years were full of hardships, the 
grasshoppers destroyed the crops and the settlers were in con- 
stant dread of the Indians. 

By reason of this many became discouraged, abandoned their 
homesteads and returned to older settlements. But neither the 
ravages of the grasshoppers nor the danger of being extermin- 
ated by the Indians could scare away the majority of the early 
and sturdy pioneers, who had crossed untrodden prairies, and 
unbridged streams, and penetrated wild forests for the purpose 
of providing homes for themselves and their families. 

In 1876, at the suggestion of the Rev. Dr. Hawley, the post 
ofifice known as Loring, the railway station, and the township 
were all merged into one name to be known as Lake Park. 
This was indeed a most fitting name, for to one who in summer 
time beholds the striking landscaj^e consisting of undulating 
prairies, green groves, blossoming fields and picturesque lakes, 
it presents the scenic beauty of a park. In fertility of soil this 
township is not surpassed by any in Becker County, nor per- 
haps in the entire Northwest. The land is not only adapted to 
the growing of grain such as wheat, oats, barley, and fiax, but 
during recent years, clover and corn have been raised with suc- 
cess. The country is therefore adapted to diversified farming; 
stock-raising and dairying have in recent years become import- 
ant industries. In the village of Lake Park are two creameries 
that are running with full capacity the year around. 

The stock farm of Thomas Canfield which is situated near 
the village of Lake Park is one of the finest and most up-to-date 
stock farms in the Northwest. On this farm Mr. Canfield has 
bred up from imported and domestic stock a fine herd of Short- 
horns that have captured many prizes at many fairs where 
they have been exhibited. On the farm ma}' be seen also the 
finest Yorkshire hogs in America, if not in the world. His 



A Pionee;r History of Becker County. 435 

Yorkshires took the championship at the World's Exposition 
at St. Louis, and at every other place where they have been 
exhibited they have carried off the highest honors. 

Many of the farmers in the vicinity have availed themselves 
of the opportunity of improving their stock by purchasing full- 
blooded sires at the Canfield farm. Lake Park is noted for its 
fine stock, and for this the farmers are indebted, to a large 
extent, to the energy and untiring efforts of Mr. Canfield, who 
has made it possible for them to obtain full-blooded sires of 
the highest bred type. 

An orphan home has also been built in the northwestern 
part of the township where dependent children can be cared for 
and educated. 

The village of Lake Park, with a population of 800, is a 
thrifty and prosperous town, and as an evidence of its thrift 
and prosperity may be cited the fact that there is not a single 
shanty in the village. 

Already some of the early pioneers have been laid to rest, 
and the time is not far distant when all of them will have ceased 
to count their homes among the living. They have done their 
duty and have done it well ;, they have been faithful and true. 
For their unswerving loyalty to those by whom they are survived, 
and devotion to country, the rising generation is deeply in- 
debted. They strove to make us and our country what we are 
and their efforts have not been in vain. The substantial roads, 
the fine school houses, and the towering churches bear the 
strongest testimony to their industry, their undying devotion to 
family, and their loyalty to country and to God. 

Henry O. Bjorge. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST CONGREGATION 
IN BECKER COUNTY. 

The first minister to visit us was the Rev. T. Watleson. He 
conducted services on November 6th, 1870, and this as far as I 
know was the first religious service in this county. 

On the i6th day of INIay, 1871, a congregation was organized 
and named The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation 
of Becker County. The trustees elected were Lars A. Larson, 
T. S. Hande and John Beaver. November 19th, 1872, a meeting 



436 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



was held in Lake Park and the name of the congregation was 
changed to the Norwegian Evangehcal Lutheran Hay Creek 
Congregation of Becker and Clay Counties. At this meeting a 




HON. HEXRV O. BJORGE. 

call for a minister was issued, but the choice was left to the 
church council of the Norwegian Synod. 

Rev. K. Bjorge was called and held his first service the first 
Sunday after Trinity. He worked with several congregations in 
this and neighboring counties until 1888, when he accepted a 
call from Red Wing and Zumbrota. Rev. Bjorge had to put up 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 437 

with many hardships during his first years here. His congrega- 
tions were so scattered that in order to reach them he had to 
cross the prairies where roads and bridges were few at that time. 
But under these conditions be it said in Mr. Bjorge's favor that 
he was a faithful servant of the Lord. There are many who yet 
remember him with love and thankfulness, for his was always 
well meant counsel which he always sought to make impressive 
during the time he worked and suffered, during these pioneer 
days. As is often the case, we seldom understand when a person 
wishes his fellow men well, and this will also apply here. His 
reward will not be missing on the Great Day when it will be 
said. "Good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a 
few things ; I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 

The first child born in Lake Park Township was Henry O. 
Bjorge, who was born on the 7th day of March, 1871. He was 
the son of Mr. and Mrs Ole Bjorge. 

The first people to get married in Lake Park Township were 
Ole L. Berland and Betsy Olson, who were married on the 3rd 
of January, 1872, by L. G. Stevenson, justice of the peace. 

A child, Jens K. Sorenson, died in this township, September 
13th, 1871. This was the first death in the township. 

John Delaney died May 22d, 1872. Mons Johnson died Nov- 
ember 15th, 1872. 

With reference to the early deaths in the township John 
Cromb has this to say: 

I think that old John Delaney, who lived on what is now the John 
Horan farm was one of the first to die. He died of strangulated hernia. I 
remember his death well, being with him when it occurred, and afterwards 
made his coffin, as we had no undertakers in those days. We had funeral 
services at the house, however, Father Gurley officiating. We buried the 
old man in a grove facing the lake on my farm, where the body still remains. 

R. H. Abraham was appointed postmaster in the spring of 
1872. 

Chris. E. Bjorge. 



438 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



REMINISCENCE OF THE COOK FAMILY MURDER. 

By F. M. Higley. 

There were two families by the name of Small and Cook, 
who had formerly been employed by the i^overnment at ^^'hite 
Earth, who had moved into the vicinity of Audubon and taken 
up claims. Sometime after the shooting of JMr. Carlson, the 
Cook family were all murdered in the night, their bodies thrown 
into the cellar, the house set on fire and all consumed. The 
intention was to have killed both families, as was afterwards 
learned, but for some reason the plan miscarried, to the intense 
satisfaction of Mr. Small and family. Although there were no 
horses in the country, the settlers having mostly arrived here in 
the old time prairie schooner with an ox team attached, the 
news spread like wild fire and the excitement and alarm which 
had been aroused by the crime became intense. The blood 
curdling deeds of those human wretches who butchered our 
people in 1862, at Lake Shetek, and other places were fresh 
in the minds of all, and there were some here who had actually 
passed through that awful ordeal and of course those scenes were 
revived in their minds with all of their attendent horrors. Some 
were in favor of immediate flight leaving everthing behind, while 
others who had spent all they had in getting here and getting a 
little home established disliked the idea of being driven out 
like a flock of sheep and losing all they possessed. In the 
neighborhood where I lived, four miles south of Lake Park, we 
got together, talked the thing over and decided to build a fort 
and undertake the protection of our families. All hands turned 
out and began its immediate erection. John Cromb sent to the 
governor for arms and ammunition, securing for the count}' forty 
stands of arms, "Springfield muskets," and 1600 rounds of cart- 
ridges which were distributed through the country, our neigh- 
borhood receiving ten guns. 

While we were busily engaged in our preparations of defense 
people of other sections of the country were not idle. Similar 
preparations were going on in Lake Park X^illage. The citizens 
of the village and surrounding country turned out and built a 
fort on the hill south of the depot made of railroad ties of which 
there were luckily plenty in town. Large numbers of the country 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 439 

people flocked to the new fort from far and near, it being- on the 
railroad offered greater inducements than our Httle country 
affair, and for a week or ten days, I suppose things were pretty 
lively. The material for ours had to be cut in the woods and 
hauled half a mile ; we cut logs twelve feet long, dug a trench 
three feet deep, putting them in on end and fitting them together 
close enough so a bullet would not pass between. We built 
quite a large log house inside for our Women and children, for 
we did not wish to be left up here in this new country, where such 
commodities were scarce, without our women. I remember 
one afternoon while we were working away leisurely a young 
man came riding up at break neck speed (and right here I must 
modify my statement in regard to the horses, for this young man 
did have a horse which was quite a curiosity at the time). He 
said the Indians were on their way to the settlements in full war 
dress scalping everything in their path, and he was going to leave 
the country. He advised us. to fly for our lives. We had a good 
sized gap in the last wall of our little fort to fill in, rather more 
than we expected to get done that afternoon, but I tell you all 
joking was then laid aside and the men went to work at a lively 
rate. I remember distinctly with what earnestness I tried to 
persuade this man to give up his notion to skip the country and 
turn in with us and help finish the gap in the wall, but to no 
purpose. His mind was made up ; he had seen enough Indian 
picnics in "62" to satisfy him and away he went, but he didn't go 
far, I guess, for he was back on his claim again all O. K., and 
afterwards secured a little body to go in partnership with 
him and help him improve it, and is now a prosperous farmer 
not a thousand miles from Lake Park. I must tell you that the 
report that he brought was a false alarm, not gotten up by him 
however, which his actions clearly indicated. AVe finished our fort 
that night and moved in pretty much the whole neighborhood. 
There were a few, however, who had come in from the East, and 
were not familiar with the redman's ingenuity in stirring things 
up and making it lively at short notice, who remained at home 
waiting for the cloud to burst, and if a raid had been made would 
have gone the way of the Cook family, but of course as they never 
came the laugh was on us. We slept in the fort one night and 
men, women and children piled in there as though they had been 
fired in with a shotgun. The next morning my wife said to me 



440 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

"let us go home. I had about as soon take my chances with the 
Indians." She had taken a terrible cold sleeping on the ground 
and felt as though if she stayed there she would die anyway. 
Our house was only about eighty rods from the stockade so we 
went. Some that lived farthest from the fort stayed a week or 
ten days. By that time we learned that the danger was over, 
although there was rnore or less apprehension for a long time, 
but we never had any more trouble. 

Mrs. West. F. M. H. 

Miss Flora Moore, now Mrs. Cyrus Curtiss, of Des Moines, 
Iowa, taught the first school in the township. Mrs. Sylvester 
Moore, her mother, writing from the home of Mrs. Curtiss, Nov. 
7th, 1906, says : 

I saw Flora to-day and she gave me some data with reference to 
her school in Lake Park Township. 

She says she commenced her school in June. 1872, the same year 
the first school was taught in Detroit. Frank Higley engaged her to teach 
the school. The school was taught in the house at the stockade on the 
Frank Higley farm. She taught three months, boarded at Mr. Higley's, 
had fifteen scholars and received her pay from Mr. Higley. 



HISTORY OF LAKE PARK VILLAGE. 

By O. I. Berg. 

In January. 1872, Ole J. Weston, who was then section fore- 
man built the first shanty in Lake Park for his section crew. The 
next building was R. H. Abraham's basswood store building 
which he hauled up from Oak Lake with oxen in February, 1872. 
This was the first store in the village. 

Filing Carlson and Peter Ebeltoft erected a building and 
started a store in the spring. This was the second store in the 
village. 

S. B. Pinney and Charles B. Plummer built a store in the 
summer of 1872 which was the third one in the village. 

The first framed residence building was built by O. I. Berg 
in the fall of 1872. The place was then called Hay Siding. 

Hans Hanson started the first blacksmith shop, in the spring 
of 1873. Charles B. Plummer opened a hotel in 1874. Eight 
blocks of the original townsite were surveyed in 1873 by Joseph 
E. Turner by order of L. P. White, agent for the Townsite 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 441 

Company. The remainder of the village was surveyed by A. H. 
Wilcox in May, 1882, by order of Thomas H. Canfield, pro- 
prietor. 

R. H. Abraham was the first postmaster. 

The village was incorporated in March, 1881. The judges of 
the first election were appointed by the Secretary of State, Fred 
Von Bombach, and were, O. I. Berg, R. H. Abraham and Dr. 
J. O. Froshaug. The first election was held March 15th, 1881. 
Thirty-five votes were cast and the following village ofificers 
were elected : President, Thomas C. Hawley ; trustees, O. I. 
Berg, M. Mark, J. E. Chase; recorder, A. C. Dean; constable, 
L. E. Norby; justice, J. A. Bemis. 

The first railroad ticket agent was Thompson. 

The first small church was built by the Lutheran Conference 
in 1879. The Synod church was built in 1884. 

The first schoolhouse was built in 1875. The first school 
teacher in the village was Miss Delia Hawley. 



LAKE PARK TIMES. 

ml THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1882. No. I. 

SALUTATORY. 

"According to the eternal fitness of things" every booming town in 
this most booming country has its advantages sounded through the medium 
of its newspaper. We have looked over the ground and have decided 
that it is time for Lake Park to show its hand, as it were, and take its 
place among other towns of its size, able and ready to support its own 
newspaper. We do not take this step hastily, for we have watched the 
steady and solid growth of the village for four years and know, therefore, 
what we do. Possessing the finest agricultural district in the state, already 
thickly settled by thrifty farmers, it is destined to advance by a rapid 
and substantial growth. 

It has been intimated that the Times has been established as a campaign 
paper in the present fight in progress in the fifth district. This assertion 
we wish to contradict at the outset and assure our patrons that we have 
come to stay and mean business. We may have our personal preferences on 
the subject, but the Times will take no part in the matter. It will always 
be in the interest of the growth and prosperity of, first the village of Lake 
Park; second the country surrounding. In short, the Times is to be a local 
paper in the full sense of the word. It is not owned or controlled by any 
political party or faction and all fears on this point may be put to rest at 
the outset. 



442 A PioxKiiR liisTuRV OF BACKER County. 

Lake Park, situated in the western part of Becker County, has the 
finest country tributary to it of any town in northwestern Minnesota. To 
the north the country is thickly settled for twenty miles and it includes 
the garden spot of Becker County. The famous Wild Rice Region, twen- 
ty miles northwest of Lake Park, finds its outlet here. No town in this 
part of the state has so large an area to depend upon for support and the 
quantity of grain which finds a market here is enormous and fully half 
of what Becker County produces. We have a gently rolling prairie with 
just enough timber to supply the farmers for years to come. Splendidly 
watered by the Buffalo River and its tributaries, which furnish the pure 
water free from alkali, the Buffalo valley, in point of excellence far sur- 
passes the Red and James River valleys. And that the town is alive to all 
these facts is shown in the marked improvements which are going on in 
every direction. Buildings are going up in every direction and it is safe 
to say that Lake Park is destined to become, in the near future, one of the 
largest and most flourishing cities in northwestern Minnesota. This year 
there will be harvested one of the finest crops ever secured in the county 
and the fact of Becker being the champion wheat growing county in the 
state will no doubt be demonstrated, as has heretofore been the case. 

H. P. Hamilton, Editor. 



F. M. HIGLEY. 



Francis Marion Higley was born in Coudersport, Pa., Dec. 17, 1843. 
At nine years of age he, with his parents, moved to Warren, 111., and in 
1856 removed from that place to Olmstead County, Minnesota, where 
he spent his early manhood. November 5, 1861, at the age of eighteen 
years, he enlisted in the service of his country in company C, Brackett's 
battalion of cavalry, and was mustered out May 24, 1866, making a service 
of over five years. February 12, 1867, he was joined in marriage to Mrs. 
Elvira Bogue and in 1870 moved with his family to Becker County, arriv- 
ing here June 10, and has since made his home here. He died November 
4, 1899, of heart failure, at the age of 55 years, 10 months and 17 days. 

Mrs. West. Detroit Record. 

THOMAS H. CANFIELD. 

Thomas Hawley Canfield was born March 2nd, 1822, in the city of 
Arlington, Vermont. He was a descendant of Nathan Canfield. one 
of the pioneers of that state. A history of Mr. Canfield's life is to 
a large extent a history of the inception, inaugurartion and comple- 
tion of that great enterprise, the Northern Pacific Railway. Educated 
in his native state he early attracted the attention of prominent finan- 
ciers and business men, and after a few years of successful business 
life in the town of Williston, he became manager of the large manu- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



443 



facturing and shipping firm of Follett & Bradley in Burlington, Vt. This 
firm was at that time changed to Follett & Canfield. About this time he 
also built the Rutland and Washingon Railway, of which he became presi- 
dent and lessee. Early in the fifties the idea of a continental railroad oc- 
curred to Mr. E. F. Johnson, then the foremost railway engineer in Amer- 
ica. Mr. Canfield, then about thirty years of age, was so convinced by Mr. 
Johnson of the practicability of such a road to the western coast, that he 




HON. THOS. H. CANFIELD. 



resolved to make it the business of his life and to devote his time, energies 
and talents towards the accomplishment of that object. The first active 
steps were taken in '52 when he, with Mr. Johnson, built the Chicago, St. 
Paul and Fond du Lac Railway, known now as the Chicago and Northwest- 
ern. The feasibility of continuing the road to the coast became more 
apparent as time went on. On account of opposition which was en- 
countered chiefly from Hon. Jefiferson Davis, then secretary of war, noth- 
ing could be accomplished at that time towards extending the road. War 



444 '^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

breaking out about this time everything was at a standstill. In 1865, how- 
ever, a charter was granted to a Mr. Perham of Maine, who transferred 
it to a company of Eastern men, who appointed Mr. Canfield director and 
general agent of the company. Of the twelve original directors of the 
company two only were Minnesotans — William Windom and William S. 
King. And so it happened that fifteen years after its inception the plans 
were laid for the building and organization of the Northern Pacific Railway. 
But almost untold difficulties were thrown in the way of those interested by 
those who desired a southern or middle route to the coast, and but for the 
courage, faith and determination of those twelve directors there would have 
been no Northern Pacific road to-day. The project was ridiculed as im- 
possible; its advocates called it crazy and visionary; but they persevered in 
their efforts. Twice was the charter on the point of being lost, and the 
second time the bill amending it in some points was signed by the presi- 
dent one day only before the charter expired. The history of the actual 
building of the road would form a thrilling and exciting story of adventure 
and difficulty. Several expeditions conducted personally by Mr. Canfield, 
sometimes on horseback, sometimes on buckboards and wagons, traversed 
the country from St. Paul and Duluth across the Rocky Mountains to the 
very ends of the route. Through tracts of land inhabited by hostile Indian 
tribes; across almost unsurmountable obstacles the surveys were made, until 
finally in 1869 the route was finally determined upon, and the construction 
of the road commenced. At this time a company was also formed, having 
Mr. Canfield as president, called the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Town- 
site Company, which was empowered to buy lands, build boats and do most 
any kind of business to further the interests of the railroad company- This 
company under Mr. Canfield's direction located, platted and laid out along 
the line of the railroad the towns of Aitkin, Brainerd, Motley, Aldrich, 
Wadena, Perham, Audubon, Lake Park, Hawley, Glyndon and Moor- 
head, and later Fargo and Tacoma. In 1870 two expeditions were made 
on horseback by Mr. Canfield, accompanied by Gov. Smith from St. 
Paul to Dakota, passing through most of these towns. There was at 
this time only one house in Detroit, and thai a log one built by Mr. 
Tyler. For the next three or four years numerous expeditions were 
successfully made under the personal guidance of Mr. Canfield. for the 
purpose of perfecting the plans and efficiency of the undertaking. For 
twenty years he labored in the interests of the road until in 'jz^ when 
the bankruptcy of the road occurred, he resigned from the directorship 
and also from the presidency of the Puget Sound Land Co. During 
this same year he purchased about 3,000 acres of farming land in the 
neighborhood of Lake Park, where he spent for the remainder of his 
life most of his time. During the last twenty-five years, in fact ever 
smce he resigned from the railroad, he was ever closely identified with 
the growth and development of the Northwest. His name is associated 
with the history of the state and nation. In the words of his biographer: 
"He was a man of broad ideas, wonderful vitality and energy, uncon- 
querable will and indefatigable determination, and the history of the gigan- 
tic enterprises in which he was concerned demonstrate the characteristics 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 445 

of the man; of strictest integrity, kind and courteous, of extensive reading 
and observation, endowed with the keenest foresight and executive ability, he 
has indehbly impressed himseh' upon the history of the great undertakings 
with which he had been connected. ]Mr. Canfield was a member of the 
Episcopal church, holding the important position of the secretary of the 
diocese for over thirty years. He was delegate to the General Convention 
on five different occasions. 

Mr. Canfield died at Lake Park, on the l8th day of January, 1897. 

He was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth A. Chittenden, 
great granddaughter of Thomas Chittenden, first governor of Vermont. 
She died in 1848, and he subsequently married Caroline A. (daughter of 
Rt. Rev. Bishop Hopkins of Vermont,) who, with three daughters, Emily, 
Marion, and Flora, and one son, Thomas H., still survive him. 

(A large part of the information contained in this notice is taken 
from a Life of Mr. Canfield published some years ago in Burlington, Vt. 

L. G. M.) 

Mrs. West. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 447 

Chapter XXIV. 

HISTORY OF CORMORANT TOWNSHIP. 

By C. M. Halgren. 
Assisted by W. W. McLeod and Severt Olson. 

The town of Cormorant was first settled in 1870. Dugald 
Campbell was the first settler. He came and settled in Section 
36, May i8th, 1870. Dugald Campbell was born in Glasgow, 
Scotland, August ist, 1819, and emigrated to St. John's, New 
r>runswick, in 1825 with his parents, where he lived until 1848, 
when he went to Massachusetts where he followed the sea for 
one year. In 1849 ^^^ came to Stillwater, Minnesota, where he 
followed the lumber woods in winter, and was a raft pilot on the 
jNIississippi River in the summer for six years. In 1859 l''^ ^^^^ the 
river, and settled on a farm in the town of Florence, Goodhue 
County, ^linnesota, where he lived until April 22nd, 1870, when 
he took his team and came to Becker County. Mr. Campbell 
was married to Julia Furman, ^larch 24th, 1861, at Red Wing, 
Minnesota, and of this union one son was born, Hubert B. Camp- 
bell, on Alay 20th, 1862. Mr. Campbell lived on his farm until 
his death which occurred March 13th, 1891. 

The next settler was Sandore Olson, who came to the town 
of Cormorant about June ist, 1870, and settled on the farm now 
owned by Murdock Pattison. Mr. Olson owned a farm at 
Evansville, Minnesota, at the time ; he stayed here until after the 
town was organized in 1872, and then sold out to Mr. Pattison 
and moved back to Evansville. 

The next three settlers were Nels Erickson, Knut Matson and 
Mats Xelson, who came here together June 8th, 1870. Nels Erick- 
son and wife Eliza moved here from Carver County by ox team. 
They have a family of five children, Mary, Eliza, Carrie, Erick 
and Daniel, their son Erick l)eing the first male white child born 
in the town. He was born December 25th, 1870. Their daugh- 
ter Carrie was nearly killed at or near the place where S. D. 
Riders farm is now in the town of Scambler. Otter Tail Coun- 
ty. As they were unyoking the oxen one night thev had 
one ox freed when the other turned quickly, swinging the yoke 




..laH^^I^ 




A Pioneer Historv of Becker County. 449 

which struck Carrie, knocking her down, and for a while they 
thought her dead, but she recovered, and afterwards married Ole 
Erickson, and is the niotiier of four boys and six girls. Ole 
Erickson is one of the early settlers; he came here in 1871. Air. 
Nels Erickson gives us some hard luck stories of his early days 
in this town and of the hardships endured by some of the early 
settlers, himself being among the number. He is one of the 
foremost farmers in the town. 

Knut Alatson is also one of the prosperous farmers. lie and 
his wife, Anna, also came here from Carver County. They have 
a family of eleven children, Mary, AFats, Julia, Ole, Erick, Carrie, 
Emma, Clara, Alina. and two died when babies. Julia Knutson 
was the first white girl l)orn in the town, December 8th, 1870. 

Mats Nelson settled on a farm on the south shore of Cor- 
morant Lake on which he lived until his death, January 29th, 
1884. 

Severt Olson, Peter A. Severtson. A\'illiam Thompson, and 
Ole and Jonas Hoveland settled here on June 12th, 1870. 

Severt Olson moved by oxen and wagon from Wisconsin. 
He was married to his present wife by the Rev. Mr. Hagebo, 
November 24th, 1873, this being the second marriage in the town. 
They have two children, Oscar and Clara. Oscar vS. Olson was 
born May i8th, 1875. 

Peter A. Severtson was married to Gunheld Severtson on 
Nov. 15th, 1871, by Minister E. A. Berg, who lived about 15 
miles southeast of Fergus Falls ; this was the first marriage 
ceremonv in the town. They had a family of five children, 
Isaac, Zachariah, Josephine, Sena and Gena, of which all are 
living except Gena. 

Ole Hoveland was the first to die in the town, also the first 
one buried in the Lutheran graveyard. He was drowned in Lake 
Ida. May 31st, 1874. 

This seemed to be a very unlucky day, as there were nine 
persons drowned the same day at about the same hour: 

Two at a little lake was of Hawley. 

One in Buffalo River, four miles west of Lake Park. 

Two at Lorentz Olson's. 

Ole Hoveland in Lake Ida. 

One at Norwegian Grove. 

Two at Elizabeth. 




OLK KKICKSON AND FAMILY. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 451 

Severt Hokland settled here July ist. 1870. Ole Erickson and 
Nels Estenson about Septeml)cr ist. 1870. (iabriel Hanson, 
Lorenz Olson and Andrew Erickson in the spring of 1871. Peter 
Anders in the summer of 1872. Tom Olson in 1875. Ole E. Olson 
is also one of the old settlers. He came here April ist, 1871. 
They had a family of six children, Isabel, Edward, vSimon, Henry, 
Olaus and Sarah. Their daughter Isabel was the second girl 
born in the town. Mr. Olson left Norway and went to Australia 
and worked in the gold mines as day laborer until he had ac- 
cumulated $1,800, which he invested in a mine of his own, from 
which he realized nothing. AMien he had lost all, he l)egan 
to work by the day until he had raised mone}' enough to take 
him to California, where he worked a while and became sick and 
his sickness cost him all he had before he was able to work again. 
He then came to Minnesota, got married and settled in Cormor- 
ant. Of his children, Edward and Olaus are both dead. Mr. 
She.rbrook married Isabel Olson. 

The first town election was held February, 26th, 1872. The 
first township officers were as follows: Chairman, Dugald 
Campbell ; supervisors, Samuel C. P. Brandt and Ole E. Olson ; 
clerk, David Merry ; assessor, Severt Hokland ; treasurer, San- 
dore Olson; justices, Dugald Campbell and David Merry; con- 
stables, Charles T. Hanson and Patrick Liddy. 

Severt Olson, Peter A. Severtson and Ole Hoveland had the 
first sawmill in the town, which consisted of an old fashioned 
whipsaw which they bought at Alexandria. They sold the lum- 
ber for the fioors of some of the first buildings that were built 
in Detroit, for which they received $30 per thousand. 

At first there was but very little land under cultivation, and so 
all the unmarried men would go south for having and harvest 
and would work on their farms here in the winter and early 
spring. It was often a hard matter to make both ends meet. 
The first crop that Severt Olson raised he worked nearly all 
summer for the seed and had to haul it from the southern i)art 
of the state. He did not get his grain threshed, but he had it 
stacked and ready, and had sent for the threshing machine when 
a prairie fire came along and burned up all his grain and his hay. 
He had worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad and had spent 
what money he made for a yoke of oxen, so he had to cut down 
a crooked tree, and make himself a pair of bob-sleds. He worked 



A Pioneer History of Becker County, 



453 



in the woods northeast of Detroit all winter, and the next year 
when his t^rain got to he al)out a foot high the grasshoppers 
came and took every bit of it. The next year he got part of a 
crop and the grasshoppers took the rest of it. He had just 
enough to live on and had to buy seed for the next year again. 
He thought it strange that he should have such a small crop 
when his neighbors all around him had more per acre than he 
did, so he asked Peter Severtson why this should be, and Peter 
told him that if he had been a married man and had a family he 
would have needed more and would have got more, but as he 
was single he did not need it, and so did not get it. Severt 
got married the next year, and his crop was good accordingly. 




.li E. ULSON AXD FAMILY. 



To show the scarcity of money we will relate a story of 
Peter A. Severtson, who took grist to mill at Alexandria in the 
fall after snow began to fall. Of course, it took quite a while 
to make the trip with the oxen, and he had to camp out at night. 
One night his coat caught fire and there was a big hole burned 
in the back when he awoke. He had no money to get it re- 
paired and none to buy a new coat with, so he had to get along 
the best he could the rest of the way to town and home again. 

Along about the year 1877, Charley Squires, Murdock Patti- 
son and W. W. McLeod built a dam and erected a mill at Cor- 



454 -^ PioxEER History of Becker County. 

niorant village. The name of the firm was [Murdock, Pattison 
& Co. This property changed hands until \\\ \^^ AIcLeod be- 
came a sole owner eventually. He ran it several years by water- 
power, and after that failed he \n\t in a steam plant and remo\ed 
the old burrs and put in a complete set of rollers which worked 
well for several years. It afterwards changed hands several 
times, each party taking what they could out of it, but most of 
them sinking some money, until lately it was purchased by Ber- 
thold Kroll, who was a man of experience, and he has so far 
given satisfaction and has secured a good trade. 

The first store was started about the time that the mill was 
built. The firm name was McLeod & Davis. They sold out 
to S. A. Halgren, October nth, 1880. 

The nearest post-office when the first setlers came was Fort 
Pomme de Terre. After the Northern Pacific Railroad was built, 
then Audubon was the nearest, then one was started at Pelican 
Lake. The citizens of this village wanted a post-office at Cor- 
morant, and sent in several petitions but they seemed to do no 
good, the neighboring villages working against it and it seemed 
impossible to do anything further. During the time that W. D. 
Washburn was stumping" the district for congress some of the 
patrons thought that it was an opportunity that they ought not 
to lose, so W. \\\ McLeod wrote to A\'. D. Washburn, stating" 
that there were a nund)er of voters here that would like to sup- 
port him in his campaign, but they were of the opinion that the 
favors should nc^t be all on one side as we were in need of a post- 
office. If he would use his infiuence in our behalf we would do 
what we could for him. In just nine days the commission came 
for John A. Davis as postmaster. 

Miss Jane Bardsley taught the first school in Cormorant. 
She afterwards became Mrs. John A. Davis. 

C. M. HalgrEx. 




y. Z 

c o 
■f. w. 




456 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Chapter XXV. 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF LAKE EUNICE. 

By Simeon S. Buck. 

In the spring of 1870. W. W. Rossnian with myself and my 
brother WilHam left McLeod County for Becker County. We 
came with teams as there were no railroads at that time. We 
made the trip in about two weeks, and arrived at Cormorant 
Lake the ist of June and took claims on Section 29. The sec- 
ond day we went fishing and caught as fine a string of bass as 
you would wish to see. Rossman and I were cooks ; he would 
make the slaj^-jacks, and I would fry the lish and make the cofTee ; 
we built a log cabin and covered it with bark and sod and the 
floor was made of earth. This we thought was a good house, but 
the mosquitoes were awful that summer, and I expect we used 
some cuss words about them. Our nearest place to buy anything 
was at Alexandria, about 100 miles away, but we brought enough 
stutif to eat so that we got along with catching lish and shooting 
game until fall. Then we went back to McLeod County to get 
the families. We made the trip without any mishaps. John 
McClelland came l)ack with us. He located at Lake Eunice. In 
the fall of 1871 Sidney Buck was born, the first boy born in 
Lake Eunice. At that time we started the city at Buck's mills, 
and it has been starting ever since. 

I was born in Orange County, Vermont, in 1833, and came to 
Minnesota in 1851. I went to California in 1858, and was in New 
York City at the time of the completion of the Atlantic cable. 
There was a great blowout at that time. I came back to Minne- 
sota in i860 and was here during the Minnesota massacre in 1862. 
In McLeod County I saw a whole family that had been killed by 
the Sioux Indians, and all had their heads cut off. 

I came to Becker County and took a claim in what is now 
Lake Eunice Township on the 30th da}' of ]\Iay. 1870. 

In the year 1871 my brother William Buck and myself moved 
to Section 31, in Lake Mew Township, where we built a sawmill 
the succeeding year. S. S. B. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



457 




MR. AND MRS. JOHN MCCLELLAND. 



LAKE EUNICE TOWNSHIP. 

By John }*IcClelland. 

All history except that of wars is usually made up of little 
things, incidents, waifs floating" on the stream of time, seemingly 
of no account as they pass, hardly worthy of record, and yet in 
the fitful passage of a century, the historian looks back for those 
little incidents with the interest that would surprise us could we 
realize a tithe of their importance in the estimation of those who 
shall come after us. 

Lake Eunice was named by the United States surveyors in 
honor of Eunice McClelland, who was the first white woman to 
settle near the lake. She was the wife of John McClelland. 

The names of the first settlers were Simeon S. Buck, William 
Buck, William W. Rossman, John ^McClelland, Archibald B. Mc- 
Donell, Duncan McDonell, John A. B. McDonell, William AIc- 
Donell, Finlay McDonell, Donald J. McDonell, Anton Glaum, Jacob 
Gessel, John Turten, Eugene Early, J. Peter Johnson, L. G. Stev- 
enson, John Holstad, George W. Britt, William Wagner, John 
Nelson, John Germer, John Peterson, Nels Peterson, Ostra Olson, 



458 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Ole Alunson, John King and Thomas AIcDonongh, all of whom 
I think came in 1870. 

Among" those who came in 1871 were Thomas Bardslev, Alon- 
zo Fogg, John Dispennet, Thomas J. Alartin, Conrad Glaum, 
Peter Glaum, Conrad Glaum, Jr., Jacob Shaffer. Warren Horton, 
R. A. Horton. iVIyla Converse came in the spring of 1872, and 
George W. Grant, Andrew Rydell, John O. Nelson, \Vm. Blake 
and James Blake came in the spring of 1873. 

George ^^^ Grant was a veteran of the Civil War and the 
hero of many battles. In later years he has held many important 
positions in the Grand Army of the Republic. 

The lands in this town are much diversified, affording every 
facility for farming that the husbandman can desire. The west- 
ern and northern parts are generally timbered with oak, maple, 
linden, poplar, etc. The balance of the land is prairie with groves 
of timber skirting the lakes. The surface is gently undulating, 
and the soil a rich black loam. 

The first child born in the township was Sidney Buck, in 
October, 1871, son of William Buck, and is still a resident of 
Becker County. The first marriage was that of Alonzo Fogg 
to Miss C)rlora Britt, by W. W^ Rossman. justice of the peace, of 
Detroit. They now live in Washington. The first "husking bee" 
was at Mr. Britt's, where the boys got their pay for husking by 
kissing the girls every time they found a red ear of corn. 

The first death in the township was that of Jane McClelland, 
mother of John McClelland and Mrs. W. W. Rossman of Detroit. 

The first school in the town was a three months subscription 
school taught by Miss Orlora Britt. 

The first town meeting was held September 3rd, 1872, and the 
following officers were elected : Justices of peace, A. B. AIcDon- 
ell and R. A. Horton ; supervisors, William Buck, John Dispen- 
net and John Turten ; town clerk, John McClelland ; treasurer, 
John Bardsley ; assessor, Duncan B. jMcDonell ; constables, J. W. 
Horton and Charles R. Clockler. 

The first settlers of this township went through all the hard- 
ships incident to the settlement of a new country. Goods of all 
kinds were high and money scarce. Everything had to be hauled 
by wagons from Alexandria, about ninety miles, the first summer. 
In the winter of 1871, Fletcher & Bly, of Minneapolis, opened a 
store at the Big Cut, three or four miles west of Detroit on the 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 459 

Northern Pacific Railroad, after which goods could be obtained 
at a more reasonable price. At this time lumber was out of the 
question. The houses were all built of logs with sod roofs. 
Some had glass windows, and others had none. The more 
enterprising settlers had logs split and hewed on one side, 
which they laid down for their floors. Others spread hay on 
the ground, which had to be taken up every few days to prevent 
the fleas and mosquitoes from becoming too plenty. The fleas 
and mosquitoes will be long remembered by the early settlers of 
this township. 

Some time in April, 1872, while ]\Irs. John ]\IcClelland was 
out in the dooryard raking chips, two Indians suddenly appear- 
ed before her, and asked in Chippewa wdiere her husband was. 
Although taken by surprise she did not answer, but kept right 
on raking chips. Finally the other Indian asked in good English 
where her man was, and she told him he went to "Oak Lake." 
Almost before the words were out of her mouth the Indian said 
'"Good." This so frightened her that she was almost ready to run 
to one of the neighbors, but remembering the three children, 
she kept on with the rake, and showed as little fear as possible 
The Indians after conversing awhile in their native language, 
started in the direction of Oak Lake. This event took place 
shortly after the Cook family murder, about five miles north of 
here. It required a great deal of nerve to pass through such an 
ordeal at a time when it was thought a general uprising of the 
Indians might take place any day. 

A half crazy Dutchman by the name of Jacob Schaft'er came 
into the townshij) in 1871. Jake was naturally of a thieving 
disposition and would steal everything he could lay his hands 
on. He would steal from one neighbor and give to another, 
auAthing from an ox yoke to a load of lumber. C)n one occasion 
he was known to steal a load of lumber in Detroit and give it 
away before he got home. The last we heard of poor Jake he 
was dangling from the limb of a tree in Montana for stealing 
horses. 

L. G. Stevenson was another queer specimen of humanity, 
who came here in 1870. "Steve." as he was called, was as cute 
as a fox, a first-rate neighbor, and a clever fellow all around. 
The first civil case tried in the township Steve was employed as 
counsel for the defendant and John McClelland for the plaintift". 



460 A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 

As the justice of peace before whom the case was tried was not 
very well posted in Blackstone, he was at a loss to know how to 
open the court. Steve told him to repeat after him what he 
should sa}\ "Proceed sir," said the justice of peace. "Hear }e, 
hear ye," said the justice of peace, "the justice court of Lake 
Eunice is now open, all persons having business in this court 
must appear and be heard. God save the Queen." "God save 
the Queen, be d— d if I'll do it," said the justice of peace, "there 
is something' not right about that. We don't have a Queen in 
this country." After a sharp skirmish by the attorneys it was 
decided to call ofif the Queen and the case went on trial. 

The plaintift" won the case, and as Steve did not tell the 
justice of peace how to close the court, the probability is, it 
is still open. Steve was for a long time the political Moses of 
this part of the country, and when the Republican party wanted 
to concentrate public sentiment and obtain full delegations from 
Becker Comity in the district conventions, they had but to call 
Steve, and the thing was fixed. Steve was a singular genius ; the 
world would not have been complete without him. 

Mrs. West. J<^hn McCi.klt.axo. 

Besides the characters in Lake Eunice mentioned by Mr. 
McClelland as noted for their peculiarities, there were others. 

A man by the name of Thomas McDonough took a claim on 
Section 22 in 1870, and afterwards sold his right to Alonzo Fogg. 
Tom had no fingers or thumbs on either of his hands, having lost 
them by hard freezing. He, however, could do almost any kind of 
work, was an expert horse teamster, and could handle the lines 
as skillfully as a man with a full set of fingers. 

A man by the name of Frank Yergens bought the northwest 
quarter of Section 23 from John King, who had pre-empted the 
place after a close contest with the Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company. The same place is now owned and occupied by Alfred 
Nunn. Yergens, or r3utch Frank, as he was usually called, was a 
peculiar specimen of the genus homo. Knickerbocker's descrip- 
tion of AA'outer \'an Twiller, the first I3utch Governor of New 
York, would ajjply equally as well to Dutch Frank. He was a 
man specially noted for the symmetry of his physical proportions, 
being exactly five feet six inches in height and six feet fi^'e inches 
in circumference. He was one of nature's noblemen, a man with 
a noble head — an immense head, a head that no ordinary neck 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 461 

could support, so nature came to his relief by placing his head on 
top of his backbone, squarely between his shoulders without any 
neck at all. 

One dark, rainy night he took old Uncle James Blake, who was 
making his way home on foot from Detroit carrying a brass clock 
that he was taking home to repair, into his wagon to ride but 
afterwards made him get out and walk the rest of the way through 
the mud because he could not play him a tune on the clock. 



Archibald McDonell. 

By Mrs. Jessie C. West. 

Archibald B. McDonell was born at Fort William, Shire of 
Argyle, Scotland, on the i8th of October, 1814. 

About the later part of June, 1870, Archibald B. McDonell 
and family composed of a wife and nine children, five sons and 
four daughters — Duncan the oldest of the boys was married a 
short time previous to leaving Canada, their former home — arrived 
in St. Paul. On the 22nd day of June, they went from St. 
Paul to Shakopee, Scott County, and remained there until the 
5th of July, when Mr. McDonell and three of his sons left for 
Becker County to seek new homes, leaving his wife, Donald, and 
Finlay, his daughters and daughter-in-law at Shakopee, until he 
and the boys could erect a home on the wild prairies. They 
went by way of Carver, Young America and Glencoe, stopping 
with some friends from Canada a few days, who had settled on 
some lands on the Buffalo Creek, McLeod County. Then they 
left for Pelican Lake and the proposed Northern Pacific Rail- 
road by way of Litchfield, Benson, Alexandria. Pom me de Terre, 
Fergus Falls, Pelican Rapids and arrived at Pelican Lake on 
the 20th day of July, the whole country traversed between Pomme 
de Terre and Pelican Lake being destitute of any houses, except 
one on the west end of Pelican Lake, owned by Robert Scambler, 
but in every direction a covered wagon and a little group of 
children could be seen. P. S. Peabody had started to build a 
house on the north side of Pelican Lake, which A. B. ^McDonell 
and sons helped to finish by hewing out basswood slabs for floor 
and room meanwhile looking about the country between Pelican 
and Cormorant Lakes for suitable lands to take as homesteads. 
The most attractive land had been staked out by parties who 



462 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

went aht-ad of the "Boom" on purpose to sell their rights to the 
newcomers in a short time. Men, horses and oxen w'ere busy 
hauling logs for shanties, and plowing the prairie to get sods to 
cover the houses which made a very good and warm place to live 
in. The lands were not surveyed at the time when each man 
marked out the piece of land he intended to claim, but some time 
in the latter part of August, George l'>. Wright was sent by the 
government to survey the counties of liecker and Clay into town- 
ships and sections, which made a vast difference in the situation 
,of some of the homesteads, .\bout the first of September the 
other meml)ers of the McDonell family arrived at Pelican Lake, 
where A. B. McDonell had built a comfortable sod covered 
shanty after the fashion of the country. Before the cold weather 
set in not less than twenty families, composed of Swedes, Nor- 
wegians, Scotch, French, Irish Americans and Germans Avcre 
settled around Pelican and Cormorant Lakes. In the days of 
the early settlement at Pelican Lake, fish could be caught in 
abundance at any point around the lake by dropping the hook 
into the water. Bait was plentiful, frogs, horse-flies and grass- 
hoppers, and fishermen were sure of a pickerel, ])ike or black 
bass ever\- time his hook struck the water. P'ish and game ward- 
ens were unknown in the days of early settlement. At and around 
the Pelican country also partridges, prairie chickens, wild ducks, 
geese, ])elicans, swans and sand-hill cranes were in countless 
numbers. Inhal)iting the country then were deer, elk, common 
and jack rabbits, which went far in assisting the homesteader 
to stick to his claim during the seven years of grasshopper 
troubles. In the fall of 1870 and the winter of 1S71, the nearest 
market to the settlement was Alexandria in Douglas County, 
something over one hundred miles distant. Lintil the Northern 
Pacific Railroad was iDuilt, P. S. Peabody had a few staple arti- 
cles at from three to five five hundred per cent profit. Salt pork, 
25 cents per ])oun(l, tea from $1.00 to $1.50 per pound. Calico 
at 25 cents per yard and e\'erything else in proportion. But we 
must admit that it was about as easy to pay for the necessities 
of life in those days as it is to-day in 1894, as money was plentiful, 
work suflficient and good wages at any kind of labor, and the 
job hunted the man and not the man the job as it is now. Most 
of the settlers have passed away. 

A. B. McDonell died Nov. 27th, 1902. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 463 



John McClelland. 

The old settlers will doubtless nearly all remember John 
McClelland. He was the first register of deeds ever elected by 
the people of this county, and held the office for six years, and as 
he was always obliged to walk on his knees he was for a long' 
time a familiar figure in Detroit. He now lives in the state of 
Washington. 



A PATHETIC CHAPTER. 
By Robert McClelland. 

The story of suffering from cold and hunger of Dr. Ripley and John 
McClelland in the spring of 1856 resulting in the death of the former and 
the loss of his legs by the latter comprises a pathetic chapter in the 
history of the times. John McClelland had reached Glencoe prior to 
the month of March, 1856, but at what particular time whether in the 
latter part of 1855 or the early spring of 1856 cannot now be recalled. 
In the month of March 1856, Dr. Ripley of Shakopee, and John Mc- 
Clelland, then of Glencoe, were employed by Bell and Chapman to go 
to Cedar City a point now known on the Hutchinson and Litchfield road, 
about thirteen miles distant from Hutchinson and nine miles from Litchfield 
for the purpose of constructing a log house to be occupied as a temporary 
country hotel or stopping place for new comers, and also for the accommo- 
dation of others who might conclude to settle or engage in business at the 
new townsite which had already been, or which was about to be laid out at 
that point. The snow was rapidly disappearing at the time of starting, the 
weather was comparatively mild and the indications were that spring was 
near at hand. In view of the mild weather, moccasins which had been worn 
during the winter, were exchanged for boots, and the two men left Glencoe 
with supplies of food sufficient to last but ten days, at the end of which time 
their employers promised to send or come with additional supplies. 

Upon their arrival at the new townsite. they threw together a few 
logs for a shelter in which to live while engaged in the construction of 
the main or hotel building, supplying a cover for that portion of the 
shanty only, under which stood their improvised bed. After their ar- 
rival and within a few days a fierce snow storm prevailed and the 
weather changed to bitter cold. They remained fifteen days and until 
all their food except about a pound of dried apples and a cpiart of rice 
was exhausted and no one appeared with additional supplies. At the 
expiration of that time they started for Forest City. The snow was 
deep and drifted and their progress slow. They had matches with them 
and when night came they took shelter in a grove and started a fire. 



464 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The next day they traveled until nearly noon, when they discovered tliat 
they were lost, and their matches having become damp in the mean- 
time they would not burn. They undertook to return to the shanty 
which they had left and to retrace their footsteps to the place they stopped 
the first night in the hope that the fire of the previous night had not 
died out, but in this they were disappointed, the fire was dead and they 
spent the second night tramping in and about the ashes in order to 
keep from freezing. When morning came they resumed their tramp 
and wdien within about seven miles of the shanty the doctor laid down 
exhausted from exposure, cold and hunger and said he could go no 
farther. He was urged and encouraged to make another eflfort, but 
finally gave up entirely, and as Mr. McClelland left him the doctor re- 
quested that in case the latter reached the shanty and was able to re- 
turn, that he do so. and bring back some matches. Shortly after the sep- 
aration Mr. McClelland fell through an air-hole while crossing the north 
fork of Crow River, got his feet wet, and they immediately swelled so 
that he had to cut ofif his boots, and the remainder of the way he walked 
in his stockings. Upon reaching the shanty an efifort was made to pro- 
cure water, from a nearby lake in which to bathe his feet to withdraw 
the frost, btit the lake was frozen to the bottom and no water could be 
procured. He then built a fire and as soon as his feet were placed near 
the fire he became wholly unable to walk. During the following eighteen 
days, and until relief came, he started a fire four times, only. His en- 
tire food supply during those 18 days, after three days on the road with- 
out a morsel of any kind of food, consisted of the remnants of dried 
apples and rice before referred to. John McClelland was brought to 
Glencoe and from thence taken to Shakopee, where both of his legs 
were amputated, one four and the other eight inches below the knee. 

Dr. Ripley's remains were found two months after the last separa- 
tion from my brother, about half a mile from the place where he was 
last seen alive, his hat hanging on a bush near by and a bottle partly 
filled with chloroform by his side. Lake Ripley, located near Litchfield 
gets its name from the circumstances narrated above, as well as the hotel 
in Litchfield by the same name. My brother's misfortune was the oc- 
casion of my father's removal from Indiana to McLeod county which 
occurred shortly thereafter, after a stay en route of about six weeks 
in Shakopee, where the family was detained in caring for brother John 
while recovering from his injuries, Glencoe was reached on the nth 
day of June, 1856. At the solicitation and with the assistance of friends 
my brother, shortly after the occurrences narrated pul^lished a small 
book or pamphlet entitled "Sketches of Minnesota," in which was in- 
corporated the story of his own and the doctor's suffering and the 
circumstances surrounding the latter's death. Miss Katie Gibson who 
has before been referred to as the first teacher in the log schoolhouse 
was understood to have been the doctor's afTianced at. the time of 
his death, and she visited my brother after we had removed to the farm 
to make inquiry as to whether the doctor had spoken of her before his 
and the doctor's last parting. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 465 

Loss of life or limb by freezing was not an unusual occurrence dur- 
ing those early Minnesota winters, due to the severit)' of the climate. 
Snow fell to the depth of from two to three feet and the thermometer 
registered from 30 to 40 below for weeks at a time, and owing to the 
dry, steady, cold atmosphere and the entire absence of any thawing, the 
great snow storms which prevailed, drifted into heaps, rendering travel 
with teams on the prairie, sometimes impossible, and at all times at- 
tended with danger. 

But notwithstanding the risks and dangers to which the early set- 
tlers were exposed life among them was not wholly monotonous, nor 
devoid of interest. They hoped for better things and enjoyed the an- 
ticipation. Hospitality and generosity one with another were among 
their commendable virtues. There were no church bickerings, nor so- 
ciety factions among them. They all joined together in whatever 
of pleasure or amusement the times ard circumstances afforded. 

GEO. W. BRITT. 

Geo. W. Britt was born January 8th. 1811, at Litchfield. Elaine: came 
to Lake Eunice in 1870. 

Uncle Britt, as he was always called by his friends, was one of the 
first settlers in the town of Lake Eunice, and without doubt the first 
corn-husking bee in Becker County was held at his house. The writer was 
there and never will forget the hearty welcome he received and the splen- 
did New England supper that was spread for the hearty settlers. It was 
a supper never to be forgotten; no lack of food at that table. Uncle 
Britt was raised in the forests of Maine. When a young man he was 
a lumberman, a sailor and cruiser to locate pine lands in }ilaine and 
Canada. It was his boast that he had driven the rivers of Maine and 
Canada for 27 springs, and his accounts of some of those drives and 
varied experiences in the forests of Maine and Canada were very inter- 
esting. He was a very kind hearted man; no one needing food or shelter 
was ever turned from his door. 

He died at Lake Eunice .April 4th, 1893, from the effects of la grippe and 
old age. 



To Mrs. Jessie West, 
Detroit. Minn., 
Dear ;Mad.\.m: .At your request I give you these fevv- items of 
the early history of Becker County. I left Boston, Mass., on the 9th 
day of May, 1871, going by the cars to Newport, then by boat to New 
York, then via the Erie Railroad to Buffalo, where we took the boat J. 
R. Coburn for Duluth. We were in the first boat that left for Duluth 
that spring and were nine days in the passage, carrying a large amount 
of freight as well as passengers. It was a very pleasant trip. We stopped 
in all of the principal ports, and at last reached Duluth, where we 
found a new town. The principal street ran north and south, the build- 
ings were all one style facing the street with square fronts. There 



466 



A Pioneer History of Becker Couxtv. 



were two elevators and tlie railroad station was one mile from the 
lake. There were no regnlar trains, the railroad being in the hands 
of the construction company. We remained at Duluth one week. Here 
we made the accjuaintance of the Rev. ^Ir. Gilfillan, who was a resident 
minister. We found the railroad in a bad condition. There were numer- 
ous trestle works which were dangerous. They did not dare to trust 
the engines over some of them, and so the cars were detached from the 
engines and pushed across the trestle and another engine took them on 
the other side. We reached Thompson the first day and had to remain 
there over night. Here my connection with the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic was of benefit to us, for I found some comrades among the railroad 




THOS. |. MARTIN .\.\D CHII.DRKX. 



men, and they gave us material aid. Thompson was a hard place; be- 
ing the beginning of the Northern Pacific Railroad, it was filled with 
railroad employes and that class of people that follow a railway crew 
Nearly every other building was a saloon or dance hall. Gambling was 
openly carried on, and the town could boast of its houses of prostitu- 
tion. In the evening, one would think bedlam was let loose. 

With profanity, screaming, ribald songs, and shooting, we passed a 
sleepless night. The next day, Sunday, we loaded our goods on a Hat- 
car and started for Brainerd. The day was warm and the sun was hot. 
The engine burnt wood, the sparks came and fell on us in showers, 
sometimes setting our clothing on fire. At last we reached a place 



A PioxEKK History of Becker County. 467 

called Aitkin. Here we had to leave the train and all o\ our heavy 
goods, for there was a sink-hole in the traek. and the train could not 
cross it. so we got our trunks on a handcar, and women and children, 
and in addition to our company, we were met here by Superintendent 
Hohart and some other officials of the company. We pumped that hand- 
car for about eight miles over a road bed that resembled a snake both 
in its wanderings up and down pitchings as well as its curvings. At last 
we reached the sink. Here the earth had entirely disappeared, the track 
held together, and we had a suspension bridge about half of a mile 
in length. I should think it was about ten feet to the water, and the 
rails hung down to within a foot of the w^ater at the center. When we 
got there we walked around, and they let the car go. It was carried 
by its own momentum down the incline and half way up the other 
side, where it was seized by men stationed there and pushed up the 
remainder of the way. Here we for the first time in our lives saw 
mosquitoes. I had previously met a few, but without any exception 
there were more to the square inch going round that sink-hole than I 
ever saw before, and this was our experience to be followed up by day 
and night, till cold weather put an end to them. After getting around 
the sink we entered a passenger train and in about one hour reached 
Brainercl. Brainerd was headquarters for the Northern Pacific Railroad, 
and the description of Thompson answers for Brainerd. Mr. Hobart 
directed us to go to the Pine Restaurant, and we found a most ex- 
cellent family, but there were no beds and we had to lay on the floor; of 
course, the mosquitoes and the eye watering smudge were there. Three 
days in Brainerd. and then wc took a train to Crow Wing River, that 
being as far as the iron rails were laid. We stopped two days with 
James Campbell, now a resident of Richw^ood, who kept a tent hotel 
at this place. Here we hired teams, and after three days of travel we 
reached Detroit Lake, camping where the small stream empties into 
the lake near the club house. The next morning we drove into Tyler- 
ville. We remained here a few days, and June 15th, I selected my present 
homestead. It hardly seems necessary to mention the struggles and 
hardships, loss of crops by hail and grasshoppers, as well as the make- 
shifts to get along. These experiences are common to all new com- 
munities, yet we experience pleasure in speaking of them. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 
July Qth, 1871. — The following named persons met in the grove, 
where the Maple Grove schoolhouse now stands. Mr. and Mrs. David 
Mix, Annis Mix, Charles Mix, Capitola Mix, Frank Mix, Lillie Mix, 
Louise Mix, Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Averill, Mr. and Mrs. S. Woodwortn, 
Mrs. Sylvester Moore, Flora Moore, Henry Moore, Lecela Moore, Will- 
iam McD9nough, Edward McDonough, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Martin, Pen- 
nell Martin and Charles W. Martin for the purpose of organizing a Sun- 
day-school. David ^lix was chosen superintendent, T. J. Martin as- 
sistant. Teachers, bible class, T. J. Martin; young ladies, Mrs. Moore; 
young men, S. Woodworth; infant class, Mrs. Mix. Sunday, July 23rd, 
we received a visit from Mr. Mason, Sunday-school missionary. He 



468 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

said this was the first organized school he had found in the county and 
gave us five dollars towards a library. Whether Mr. Mason organized any 
other school earlier than this date. I do not know, but think we can take 
the credit of being the first. The name was the Maple Grove Sunday-school 

RELIGIOUS SERVICES. 

Religious services were held at dii^erent places in the county by 
the Rev. "'Father" Gurley. I think at that time he was a Methodist, but 
he became later on connected with the Episcopalians. The first religious 
service held in Maple Grove was in the fall by the Rev. Mr. Wood, of De- 
troit, who reorganized the Sunday-school on that day, and also united James 
Hanson and Annis Mix in marriage. November 8th, winter set in, the snow 
never disappearing entirely till May 3rd, 1872. On April 9th we gathered 
maple sap and made maple syrup, the first run of the season. On April 
13th, 1872, Marion Martin was born. 

THE BECKER COUNTY VETERAN ASSOCIATION. — THE 
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 
Through some neglect on the part of the department officers, the 
Grand Army of the Republic lost its position in the National Encamp- 
ment and all G. A. R. work was at an end, as there was no department 
we could not work. So the members of the G. A. R., and old soldiers 
formed themselves into the Becker County Veteran's Association. 

BRICKMAKING. 
In May, 1872, Mr. Norcross, uncle of William A. Norcross, of De- 
troit, started a brick-yard near where the Detroit House stands. Those 
pond holes near there are where he dug his clay. He made good brick 
earlier in the same season near Mud Lake, where another yard was 
started, Giles Peak furnishing the supplies for carrying on the work. 
In 1873 W. Norcross burned a kiln in the yard. His uncle started and 
also made brick east of the Pelican River on the Rand place. In 1875. 
a yard was started by Shaw and Kindred. In July of that year Kindred 
sold out to T. J. Martin. The first attempts were failures, but later 
they succeeded in making good brick. In 1880 Martin sold his interest to 
Shaw, who carried it on for two years more and then burned out. 

Thomas J. M.\rtin. 



Sylvester Moore. 

Sylvester ]\roore was born at Trunil)ull, Ashtabula County, 
Ohio, on the 31st day of December, 1820. In the year 1852 he 
was married to Miss INIary Jane Teachout at Darien, Walworth 
County, \\'isconsin. 

Mr. Moore came with his family to Becker County on the 
14th of June. 1871. He took a homestead on Section 12, in Lake 
Eunice, where he lived the remainder of his days. In the early 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 469 

days of this county he took an active part in the affairs of his 
town and county, and in tliis connection he earned and enjoyed 
the confidence and esteem of all. Sylvester jMoore was a man 
of unimpeachable character, honest in word and deed, well in- 
formed and a man whom it was a pleasure to meet and an honor 
to call a friend. 

Sylvester ^loore died on the 2nd of November, 1899. Mrs. 
]\Ioore and four children survive him. They were Mrs. S. B. 
Curtis, Airs. O. V. Alix, Henry Moore of Shell Prairie, and Leslie 
G. Aloore, of Lake Eunice. — Detroit Record. 
Mrs. West. 



Chapter XXVI. 

HISTORY OF LAKE VIEW TOWNSHIP. 

This township was organized in March. 1872, and the first 
township election was held on the 12th day of that month at 
the log cabin of A. B. Simmons on Section 10 of that township. 

The first set of township ofificers were: 

Chairman of board of supervisors, J. W. Brown ; supervisors, 
W. J. Martin, Eugene Holyoke ; township clerk, Stephen Wood- 
worth ; treasurer, Joseph H. Abbey; assessor; C. H. Sturtevant ; 

The first settlers were : 

Edward McDonough, on southwest quarter Section 18, in 
June 1st, 1870; William McDonough, on northwest quarter Sec- 
tion 18, in Sept. 5th, 1870; Lars Eckland, on nortliwest quarter 
Section 30, in Sept.. 1870; David Mix, on southwest quarter Sec- 
tion (), in October 1870. 

O. V. Mix, on Section 6. in Oct., 1870; S. B. Dexter, on north- 
west cjuarter Section 6. in May 30th, 1871 ; Sylvester Moore, on 
Section 6, in June 14th, 1871 ; Steven Woodworth. on northwest 
quarter Section 18, in June 14th, 1871 ; Joseph Abbey, on south- 
west quarter Section 14, in July ist. 1871 ; Charles H. Sturtevant, 
on southwest quarter Section 4, in August 5th, 1871 ; Marshall J. 
Lewis, on southeast quarter Section 10, in August 29th, 1871 ; 
J. B. Simmons, on northeast quarter. Section 10. in September 
loth, 1871 ; James W. Brown, on northeast quarter. Section 4, in 
1871 ; John Rutterman, on northeast quarter, Section 14, in 1871 ; 
George Martin, in 1871 ; John Whalen, on Section 14, in 1871 : 



470 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Anthony Miller, on southeast quarter, Section 12, in 1871 ; ■Martin 
H. Gerry, on northwest quarter. Section 4, in 1871 ; John McGil- 
very, on Section 22, in 1871 ; Harvey Judd, on northeast quarter, 
Section 8, in 1871 ; Charles Harvey, in 1871 ; Thomas Corbett. on 
northeast quarter, Section 20, in September, 1871 ; Eugene Hol- 
yoke, in 1871 ; Daniel Webster, on northeast quarter, Section 12, 
in 1871 ; James Dupue, Section 22, in 1871 ; Nels Munson, on 
southeast quarter. Section 6. in 1871 ; Thomas Glenn, on Section 
22, in 1871 ; W. H. Martin, on Section 22. in 1871. 




MRS. DA\ID MIX. 

The township was first name(l Lakeville at the suggestion of 
Mrs. C. H. Sturtevant. l)ut there l)eing" another township by that 
name in the state, Mrs. Sturtevant suggested Lakeview and that 
name was chosen, as there were so many lakes in the township 
and so many pretty views from them. 

The first white woman to settle in Lakeview Township was 
Mrs. David Mix, who came into the township the 15th of May, 
1871. 

The first white child born in Lakeview Township was Nellie 
Mix, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Mix, who was born on the 
24th day of August, 1871. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 471 

The first Lakeview people to get married were James Han- 
son and Miss Annis Mix, who were married by the Rev. J. E. 
Wood on the 22d of October, 1871. This was also the first mar- 
riage of white people in Becker County. 

The first people who died in the township were Mr. and Mrs. 
John Rutterman, an account of which is here given in an extract 
from the Detroit Record of June 29th, 1872: 

Mr. and Mrs. Rutterman, who lived alone on the south side of De- 
troit Lake came to Detroit in a "dugout" canoe on the 25th and left Archie 
McArthur's on tht-ir return Thursday evening at 7 o'clock the distance 
home being about three miles. ^Ir. McArthur's family saw the boat well on 
the way across the lake, then saw some indications of a storm and the wind 
blew so hard that they closed their door. They were seen still later by a 
.family at the engineer's headquarters on the lake shore. When the storm 
became severe, they closed their door and they saw the frail boat nearly 
across the lake by the south shore and in line from that point with Mr. 
.[Miller's house. Mr. and ]\Irs. Rutteman were accompanied by a small dog. 
and later in the evening some of the r^Iiller family saw the dog pass on its 
way home. The storm causing this accident, hung in the north and the 
northwest for some time, and then suddenly approached with a strong wind 
and grew dark. It is believed the Ruttermans had almost reached the 
shore by Miller's house when their frail boat capsized, and both were drown- 
ed, the dog alone reaching the shore. Next morning Mr. Miller found 
the canoe upset and Mrs. Rutterman's hat and basket on the shore near 
his house. This was the first suspicion of the fatal occurrence. ^Ir. 
Miller came directly to Detroit and a posse was organized to search for 
the missing. The lake was dragged with hooks on Wednesday and Thurs- 
day night aided by torches, but to no avail. Some parts of the lake were 
over eighty feet deep. Mr. Rutterman has resided here for about one year, 
and his wife since last November, and both were highly esteemed. Mr. 
Rutterman was about 42 and his wife 32. Both were born in Germany, 
coming to this state from Missouri. 

Mrs. Rutterman's body was found the first day of July and on the 
9th, INIessrs. Noble Sanders and another gentleman of Detroit found the 
body of John Rutterman floating in the lake not far from where Mrs. 
Rutterman's body was found. Coroner Brown assisted by Charles Doell 
took the bodies in charge and gave them burial on the eastern shore of the 
lake. Captain Doell's efforts and sympathy for the orphan children will 
not soon be forgotten by citizens and friends of the deceased. 

Mrs. West. 



4/2 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT OF LAKEVIEW. 

By Capt. Joseph Ai-.bky. 
I came to Becker County July ist, 1871, and took a pre-emp- 
tion on the southwest quarter of Section 14, of Lakeview Town- 
ship. Iniilt a good log house and cleared about twenty acres, the 
land being mostly covered with oak timber. In March, 1872, I 
went back to Michigan and got married, and brought my wife 
home to Becker County. We arrived in Detroit on the nth 




CAPT. JOSEPH H. ABBEY. 



of April, a town then mostly of tents. When we got off the cars 
they were in a snow cut from eight to ten feet high on either 
side, with side cuts to get through into the city. My wife gave 
a sigh and asked if we had not about come to the jumping off 
place. W^e went straight home to Lakeview\ where we resided 
until November. 1873. being one of the pioneer families. 

W^e had pleasant times, being surrounded soon afterwards by 
other families, among which were those of Eugene Holyoke, M. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 473 

J. Lewis, J. B. Simmons and Thomas Glenn, the steam shovel 
man, also a man by the name of George Martin and another by 
the name of James Depue on the northwest qnarter of Section 15. 
The woods abounded with deer and other game such as bear, 
lynx, a few elk, and wolves were very numerous. I have seen 
dozens of them in packs on Detroit Lake, when I have been 
crossing on the ice to Detroit village. Prairie chickens, part- 
ridges and grouse were plentiful, and wild ducks too numerous to 
mention. I have seen them by the thousand on the lake called by 
my name, adjoining my old place, and when they would rise to 
fly they would make a noise like a train of cars. I sold my place 
to a man by the name of Dor, and he soon afterwards sold it to 
Arthur Beach. I was out of the state until the fall of 1882 when 
I came back to Becker County. 



Captain Abbey was a member of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, 
commanded by Col. Pritchard, the regiment that captured Jefif. 
Davis. 



The First School. 

The first school in Lakeview Township, was taught by Miss 
Nellie Childs of Detroit. She says: 

I taught the first school in Lakeview, and it was my first term as well. 
I began June ist, 1874. The school was held in a log building that Mr. 
David Mix had put up for a granary, but afterwards used for a dwelling. 
It stood in Maple Grove, near Mr. O. V. Mix's present home. 

When I reached the place on Monday morning the building was there, 
but not a single article of furniture. Mr. Martin and Mr. Mix were mak- 
ing benches. I brought my own chair from home, and a little home-made 
pine table was brought from Mr. Mix's. The benches were finished so 
we had a short forenoon session. We had neither maps, blackboard nor 
globe during the term. There were sixteen pupils, and I think there 
were never sixteen more obedient, studious, respectful children gathered 
under one roof. 

I do not think a single new book was bought. Each brought such 
school books as there were in their various h.ouies; books that had been 
used by elder brothers and sisters or fathers and mothers; some were 
from Nova Scotia, some from Rhode Island, some from Massachusetts and 
some from Wisconsin and Minnesota. 



474 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

With but one exception these sixteen are all still alive, although well 
scattered from Minnesota to the Pacific coast. Within the last three years 
a daughter of one of them has been one of my pupils. 

To me this is a very interesting subject, and once fairly started. I 
find it hard to stop. 

July 6th, 1906. Nellie Childs. 



Thomas Corbett. I 

Tlionias Corbett was born in Nova Scotia, September 22nd. 
1821. His parents were George and Susan Corbett. He was 1 

married in Milford, Mass., December 25tb, 1850, by the Rev. ]\Ir. 
Pond, pastor of the Congregational church, to Afiss Rachael 
Fisher, who was born at Emsdale, Nova Scotia, February 18th, 
1 83 1. Mr. Corbett came to Becker County in September, 1871, 
and located in Lakeview the same year in the fall. The following- 
July his family came and they commenced to clear up the farm 
on the banks of Lake Melissa. Corbett and the boys cut out the 
first road down through Lakeview, from the bridge crossing of 
the Pelican River to near Buck's mill. 

By hard work he managed with strict economy to live through 
the first ten years of hard times and grasshoppers. In 1881, the 
county began to be settled up and the general business of the 
county picked up, but the first ten years will always be remem- 
bered by old settlers as the hardest of their experience in the 
county. Mr. Corbett died April 17th, 1888. 

FAMILY RECORD. 
Thomas L. Corbett was born July 22nd, 1855; Mary J. Corbett was 
born May 3rd, 1857; Lizzie Corbett was born Jan. 13th, 1859; George A. 
Corbett was born Nov. i8th, i860; William L. Corbett was born Septem- 
ber 13th, 1863; John F. Corbett was born June 2nd, 1865; Robert V. Cor- 
bett was born July loth. 1867. 
Mrs. West. 



David Mix. 

David Mix was born in the state of New York on the 28th 
of October, 1828. Pie afterwards went to Laporte County, In- 
diana, where he resided for many years. He and Mrs. Mix were 
married in Laporte County on the 27th day of February, 1850, and 
made their home in Lakeview, Becker County, in the spring of 
1871. Eleven children were born to them and grew to maturity. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 475 

They were Aiinis, Orison, Charles, Frank, Capitoha, Lily. Louisa. 
Josephine, Frederick, Nellie and Grace. 

Mr. Mix spent the last few years of his life in the village of 
Detroit where he died on the i6th of June, 1893. 



John B. Simmons. 

John B. Simmons was born in Foster, Rhode Island, June 
26th, 1820. He was married to Miss Amy Young, January 6th, 
1842. They were the parents of five children, one of which after- 
wards became ]Mrs. Marshall J. Lewis, who came to Lakeview 
with her parents in September, 1871. 

Mr. Simmons died in Massachusetts in January, 1907, aged 
87 years. 



Silas S. Joy. 

S. S. Joy was born January nth, 1823, at Thompson, Connecticut. 
When the war broke out he was among the first to rally to the support 
of the nation, and served with credit through the war. 

He enlisted in Company G, 51st Massachusetts volunteers, as first 
lieutenant and was promoted to the rank of captain, serving until July 
27th, 1863, when his term expired. He again enlisted as sergeant of 
Company I, 14th Regiment, Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and served till 
the end of the war. He came to Becker County in July, 1872, and first 
located on Section 5 in Lakeview Township. He afterwards moved 
to Section 2- i" Detroit Township, where he spent the remaining years 
of his life. He died on the 6th day of June, 1894. — Detroit Record. 



PELICAN VALLEY NAVIGATION CO. 

In all the w^orld there cannot be found a more beautiful chain 
of lakes than that of which Detroit Lake is the northern link 
and which stretches away southwest to Pelican Rapids in Otter 
Tail County, a distance of nearly forty miles. The lakes in the 
chain differ widely in size and form. All have beautifully tim- 
bered shores, fine sandy beaches and are liberally bestrewn with 
beauty spots — ideal places for summer homes. The journey 
through them is one of constant variety and never ending inter- 
est ; streches of lake, all too short to admit of monotony, alternate 
with little stretches of river winding through the timbered hills, 
meadows and fields of the beautiful Pelican valley. It is no 
wonder that in the very earliest days of pioneerdom there were 



476 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

schemes for opening these lakes to navigation by putting- in 
locks and enlarging the channels connecting them so that boats 
might pass from lake to lake. 

A company was organized in 1876, at Detroit, with John A. 
Bowman, president ; F. W. Dunton, of New York, vice president ; 
C. P. Wilcox, secretary ; and A. H. Wilcox, treasurer and chief 
engineer, but nothing seems to have ever been done by this com- 
I)any. 

Articles of incorporation of the "Detroit Lake and Pelican 
River Slack Water Navigation Company" were published in the 
Detroit Record during the summer of 1882. L'nder these articles 
it was proposed to construct and operate a water route with all 
necessary appurtenances from some point on Detroit Lake in the 
County of Becker to Breckenridge in the County of AA'ilkin, via 
the Pelican and Otter Tail rivers. Lake Lida was also included 
in the scheme. Detroit was named as the principal place for 
the transaction of business. The capital stock was placed at 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the list of incorporators 
were as follows: John A. Bowman, Detroit, Minn.; Homer 
E. Sargent and Nathan Corwith, Chicago, 111. ; Randolph L. 
Frazee, Frazee, Minn.: William A. Kindred. Fargo, D '^1'. ; 
E. G. Holmes and A. H. Wilcox. Detroit, Minnesota. Noth- 
ing was done by this cori)oration in the way of improving the 
channels connecting the chain of lakes in (|uestion, nor were any 
further steps taken to construct such water-way for a number of 
years. During the summer of 1888 a new corporation was organ- 
ized with George D. Hamilton. Jeff. H. Irish, and John K. West 
as incorporators. The work of building the water-way com- 
menced under this company on the ist day of Sept., 1888. with 
Thomas Richmond as foreman. A small dam was built at the 
outlet of Detroit Lake, which stopi)e(l the How of the stream and 
permitted the lowering of the chaimel tti Aluskrat Lake. At this 
time there was a dift'erence in le\'el of four feet, ele\-en inches 
between Muskrat and Detroit Lakes and of twelve inches be- 
tween Muskrat and Lake Sallie, making the total fall from De- 
troit Lake to Lake Sallie, five feet eleven inches. The Pelican 
River was a shallow\ crooked, brook-like stream through which 
it was very difficult to move a small row boat. A dam was 
placed across this stream below the outlet of Muskrat Lake and 
a cut made through the bank into Lake Sallie in which a lock 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 477 

was l)uilt. A\ ork was continued until stopped Ijy cold weather. 
In the following spring the dam at outlet of Detroit Lake 
was removed and a channel dredged out into the Jake, the chan- 
nel between Lakes Sallie and Melissa deepened and made navi- 
gable. This was accomplished by means of temporary dams 
which held the water in the lakes and permitted the pumping out 
of the channels so that the dredging could be done with scrapers, 
shovel and wheelbarrows. Permission was obtained from the 
town of Lakeview to raise the bridges so as to permit the pass- 
ing of boats and the channel was continued to Buck's dam. south 
of Lake Melissa. 

Late in the summer of 1889 the twin screw steamer, "Lady 
of the Lakes." was put in service and towed a quantity of wood 
from the banks of Muskrat Lake to the railroad siding on the shore 
of Detroit Lake two miles east of Detroit, and now known as the 
"Ice Track." This wood was loaded on scows and the steamer 
used as a tug boat. During the following summer the steamer 
"Lady of the Lakes" made regular daily trips from Detroit to 
Lake Melissa, and the cottage settlement in the vicinity received 
a considerable start. After the cottage season was over the 
steamer was used to tow cordwood from Buck's dam to the 
railroad until winter stopped the work. For a number of years 
this same thing continued. Each season the towing of wood and 
logs was carried on until the price of timber at Buck's dam be- 
came so high as to leave no profit in the undertaking. No towing 
has been done since 1899, but the boats have run regularly 
throughout the summer season carrying passengers to and from 
the cottage settlements on the lower lakes, making three trips 
daily and carrying a large number of passengers. It has been and 
is now the intention of the Navigation Company to extend the 
improvements of the channels connecting the other lakes in the 
chain until all are made navigable. This will be done as fast as 
business will warrant. 




• V 



31 *-^ 

V 








HAXS HANSON. 



MRS. HANS HANSON. 




W. W. MCLEOD. 



OLE E. QUALEY. 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 479 

Chapter XXVII. 

HISTORY OF RICHWOOD TOWNSHIP. 

By Hans Hanson. 
On the 27th of May, 1870, Hans Hanson and Tver Christenson 
and families left the town of Spring Grove, Houston County, 
Minnesota, with the intention of going northwest where they could 
take up land under the homestead laws. Not knowing where to 
go they determined to continue their journey until they found land 
that suited them. On July ist they crossed the boundary line 
between Otter Tail County and Becker County, and camped at 
night upon a high elevation of land near the west shore of Otter 
Tail River, where the thrifty town of Frazee was afterwards lo- 
cated. There were no buildings in sight, and the whole place 
looked like a wilderness. On the 2nd of July, about 8 130 a. 
m. we broke camp and started on, as we had been told that the 
land around Oak Lake was very rich and well adapted for farm- 
ing. This was on the old Red River trail, and we were striving 
to reach that place, which we thought would be the termination 
of our journey. After we had traveled until about one o'clock 
we reached the east shore of Detroit Lake, which is about seven 
miles from where we started in the morning. On account of very 
poor roads our oxen were pretty tired when we came to the lake. 
We unyoked our oxen to give them a little rest while we ate 
dinner. At 2 130 p. m. we hitched up and were going on farther, 
but there was no road. The only chance to get on farther was 
to go right into the lake. We had to follow around the lake 
shore, but always came out in the water. In the evening about 
five o'clock, we came to dry land again on the northerly side 
of the lake, about twenty rods west of where the Pelican River 
enters Detroit Lake. Here we had to rest the oxen again 
as they were tired with driving through the lake as the bottom 
was principally sand. We then got on to the Red River trail, and 
that evening went across the prairie to where the village of 
Detroit was afterwards located. On this prairie there was not a 
single shanty nor a human being to be seen. That night we 
camped about two and a half miles northwest of where Detroit 
is now located. In the morning of July 3rd, we started out again 



480 A I'loxiJUR History of Becker County. 

and went as far as Floyd Lake, \vherc we found Samuel J. Fox. 
He was a blacksmith by trade, and had a small blacksmith shop 
near his birch bark tepee. Mr. Fox was a white man, a native of 
Scotland, but his wife was a Chippewa woman. This was the first 
white settler we found in Becker County. He was a nice gentle- 
man and gave us quite a few hints in regard to the surrounding 
country. About noon, we reached the much-talked-of Oak Lake. 
At this place we found a family by the name of Sperry who 
had been there for two years. They were nice people, too, and 
told us all about the country. They said that the soil was fertile, 
and that nearly everything would grow abundantly. After eating 
our dinner we started out to pick out our claims, leaving our 
families in the covered wagon which we had occupied for nearly 
a month. After getting west for about five miles we found a man 
by the name of Tver T. Knudson, a Norwegian, who had moved 
from Houston County, Minnesota, and had settled on a claim on 
the south side of the lake where the village of Audubon is now 
located. This man told us that it was useless to look for claims 
any farther west as the land hunters were already quarreling among 
themselves over their claims. We then walked back to where we 
had left our families, and made up our minds to go back to 
Detroit Lake and pick our claims on that prairie. We went back 
over the same road by which we came and reached Detroit Lake 
about eleven o'clock, July ^rd. We unyoked our oxen so as to 
give them a chance to free themselves from the mosquitoes, which 
were plentiful. 

The next thing on the program was to light a smudge to drive 
away the mosquitoes, but as soon as we lit the match and tried 
to start a fire those native inhabitants put out our fire three times 
before we could get it fairlv started. The next morning, which 
was the Fourth of julw we made up our minds not to work on 
the national holida\-. There was no brass band and not even a 
white person or a shanty to l)e seen an\\vhere, but we were happy 
anyway as we liked the place and had decided to settle there. 

On July 5th, we commenced to break along the foot of the 
hill afterwards called Fox's Hill, which is just back of where 
Flotel Minnesota now stands. After making a few rounds we 
came to places where the ground was rather sandy. Mr. Christen- 
son said the ground was not good for much. I agreed with him. 
but said that if ever the railroad should come throuQ:h there we 



A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 481 

would be almost sure to get a small town on that prairie. To 
my remark Mr. Christenson said that he was not looking for a 
townsite but for land that would make a good farm. We then 
drove our oxen with the breaking plough back to the wagons 
where our families were and told our wives that we had to pick 
up our things again and leave. This, of course, did not suit the 
women, as they thought they had been camping long enough, but 
this ended our settlement at Detroit Lake. On the 6th day of 
July we started out again and went west as far as Oak Lake, 
where we left our families. We then went north on the White 
Earth trail. Another man by the name of Iver Everson had then 
joined us. When we went north about five miles from Oak Lake 
we found some nice oak groves and good prairie land right up 
to the timber and this suited us. The land was so rich that the 
grass reached nearly up to our arms on the highest parts on the 
prairie. We all picked out adjoining claims that day. The country 
was not surveyed at that time, so that we did not know what 
town, range or section our claims w'ere in. Anyway we located 
our claims and came back to our families and wagons that same 
dav, and were glad that we had found land that suited us. 

On Julv /th we started out again with our outfits and came 
to our claims about noon. We made settlements on our claims 
that day, and were the first settlers in the whole township which 
was afterwards named Richwood. 

Mr. Christenson and 1 concluded to live together for a time 
in the same house, as we had only one stove for the two families. 
I went over to my claim the same day that we came out and 
commenced to break so as to show that the land had been taken. 
Then we peeled some birch bark and made a shanty. This served 
as kitchen and dining room. We used the wagons for bedrooms. 
Everything went on nicel}- until we had lived this way more than 
one week, when one evening we were visited by two men, who 
said they Vv'ere from White Earth. One of them looked like a 
white man, and the other like an Indian or half-breed. They 
informed us that all the land alongside the timber had already 
been claimed by people from White Earth, and about seventy of 
them had organized into a combination to drive away any person 
or persons that should try to take their claims, and that they 
were coming down to drive us away. I at first thought it might 
be so, as at the place where Mr. Christenson picked his claim 




IVER CHRISTENSON AND FAMILY. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 483 

there were a few furrows broken and a sign tacked to a tree. 
But this sign showed that there had been no one there to make 
any improvements for more than one year, so they had no more 
right to the land than we had. After the two men had been 
talking with us for a long time, telling us what the consequences 
would be if these White Earth people should have to drive us 
oflf, I finally told them that we had come there to stay and make 
a home, and if they thought fit to kill us they certainly had a 
chance to do so. We were not going to leave until we had to, 
and that our lives were no dearer than theirs. After this con- 
versation the two men departed. I then loaded all our things 
into the wagon, hitched up the oxen, and myself, wife and child 
went over to protect our home, as we expected this crowd from 
White Earth would call that night. After getting over to the 
place where we had intended to build our house we unyoked our 
oxen, but they bellowed and ran back to Mr. Christenson's place 
on account of the mosquitoes, where we had kept a smudge every 
night. 

I managed to start a fire, then I cut some green grass and 
laid it on top of the fire so as to get a good smudge to protect 
us from the mosquitoes. That was one of the worst nights I have 
ever gone through. I and my wife and child were alone, and 
I was laboring under the impression that the gang from White 
Earth was coming to kill us. I had two guns which were care- 
fully loaded that night, and were kept under the mattress in the 
wagon where I was supposed to sleep. No one, however, came 
near us that night, which was very fortunate, as their lives would 
have been in danger. The next morning we left our wagon and 
goods and all went back to Mr. Christenson's. We had talked 
the matter over as to what we had better do whether to leave and 
go somewhere else or to try and stay where we were. Our stock 
had gone over towards the White Earth reservation and we had 
to go after them and get them back. Coming over into the 
White Earth road a man came along on horseback, and when he 
saw that we were white people, he commenced to talk and seemed 
to be a gentleman in all respects. His name was Dr. Pyle, and 
he was hired by the government as a doctor for the Indians on 
the White Earth reservation. We told him that we had settled 
there a few days ago, but had been warned to leave our claims 
and were told that there were a lot of men from the reservation 



484 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

who were coming to drive us away. He told us to stick to our 
claims, and not to be afraid, that he was going to White Earth 
and tell those people that there were some settlers who had taken 
claims along the groves and that they had better keep away and 
not bother them. This gave us encouragement and we made up 
our minds to stay, and as we did not hear any more from those 
parties, this scare was soon over. After we had been on our 
claims about two w'eeks, a man by the name of Gabriel Halverson, 
a Norwegian from Freeborn County, Minnesota, settled a little 
to the north of us so that his claim and mine joined. About the 
first improvement we had to make was to do a little breaking to 
get a little to live on the next fall. We broke about two and a 
half acres on each place, that is on mine, Iver Christenson's and 
Iver Evenson's. Then we had to cut hay for our stock for the 
coming winter. We found plenty of grass, but it was very hard 
to stay out and cut it for the mosquitoes were so bad that we had 
to keep our jackets on even in the middle of the hottest days. 
After we had cut and stacked our hay, we commenced to cut 
house logs for our shanties. The size of our buildings were to 
be thirteen by fifteen feet, and about seven feet high. It was 
now about the 20th of August, and we had some bad weather 
which lasted one week. It was so cold that we had to wear 
overcoats to keep ourselves warm even if we were in the tim- 
ber cutting house logs. After this cold spell was over, we had 
just as nice weather as any one could wish for. About the last 
day of August, a swarm of grasshoppers came. They were very 
thick, so that they covered the ground in many places and es- 
pecially on our new breaking, but as we had had no experience 
with these insects, we never thought of the consequences and the 
trouble which they afterwards caused us. Sometiiue in the middle 
of August a party of surveyors surveyed the town and range lines, 
and when those lines were run we found out that our claims were 
in Town 140 North. Range 41 West, but we could not tell what 
sections we were on. It was not until the early part of November 
that Alvin H. Wilcox and his crew of men subdivided the town 
into sections. In the month of October, ( )le Qualey and Nery 
Augunson came from Freeborn County and took claims, Qualey 
on Section 20, and Augunson on Section 8. My claim was on 
Section 20, Iver Christenson's on Sections 29 and 30, and Iver 
Evenson's on Sections -^^2 and 29. In November, Andrew Ander- 



A Pioneer History of Beckkr County. 485 

son and John Anderson. l)oth Swedes from Carver County, came 
and settled, Andrew on the southeast quarter of Section 20 and 
John on the northwest quarter of Section 8. In July, a man by 
the name of W. W. Harding settled on the southeast quarter of 
Section 29. He was a native of New Brunswick. Hugh Camp- 
bell, a native of Canada, settled on Section 28. They had both 
been employes on the government reservation at Leech Lake, 
Harding- as a farmer and Campbell as a blacksmith ; both were un- 
married as far as we could find out from them. In the same vear 
came Daniel Swanson, wdio settled on Section 18, and John 
Rydeen, who also took his claim on Section 18. They were both 
Swedes. Lars P. Smith, Immanuel Jongren, John P. Engberg, 
Olaf Johnson and Andrew Olund settled on Section 12, ex- 
cept L. P. Smith, who settled on Section 24. That same fall 
a man b}" the name of Sampson, a Norwegian, settled on Section 
4. Henry Johnson, a Dane, on Section 4. August Stallman, a 
German, on Section 6, Swan Swanson, a Swede, on Section 
6. About the same time. Gust. Lunden settled on Section 32. 
On Section 2, there was a man by the name of A. J. Haney, 
an American, who had picked a claim and commenced to build a 
dam across the Bufifalo River, just a little way from where the river 
empties out of Bufifalo Lake. The dam was completed that fall, 
and the frame raised for a sawmill which commenced operations. 
I must say that these few persons that had settled in the town were 
all nice people, and every one of us respected each other as near 
relatives and we got along well together. Provisions were remark- 
ably high that fall and winter of 1870 and 1871. A barrel of 
flour cost $12, pork twenty-five cents a pound, 5 pounds of brown 
sugar for $1, butter thirty-five cents a pound, and it had about as 
man}' colors as the rainbow, and yet I cannot remember that I 
heard a single person who complained or sufifered for want of 
food. 

In the month of April, 187 1, came Colbjorn and Engebret Void, 
Norwegians ; thev came from Stearns County and settled, Colbjorn 
on Section 10, Engebret on Section 4. Iver Larson, a Norwegian, 
came from Houston County, Minnesota, in April, and settled on Sec- 
tion 30. N. G. Roen and his brother Knut, also came from Houston 
County and settled on Section 30 ; that same spring Bent Johnson 
came from Carver County and settled on Section 30. I must here 
relate a trip we made down south to Otter Tail County. Iver Chris- 



486 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

tenson, Iver Evenson and Gabriel Halverson and I started on the 
9th day of Jan., 1871, to go to St. Olaf in Otter Tail County to 
buy wheat and have it ground into flour at Balmoral Mill, as 
we could get a little more for our money that way than when we 
bought the flour from dealers. The first day we got as far as 
Detroit Lake. Here we made a good fire and camped out all 
night, as there were no settlers. The weather was rather cold 
and about six inches of snow on the ground. We had loaded 
hay on our sleds before we left home so as to have hay for our 
oxen both coming and going. The oxen, of course, were eat- 
ing from the hay load whenever we stopped to give them a rest. 
The next day we got as far as what we called the second crossing 
of the Otter Tail River, about four miles south of where Frazee 
is now. Here we found a man who told us that a team of horses 
had broken into the river that forenoon, so the ice was not safe 
for our oxen to cross. We then came to the conclusion to unyoke 
the oxen and lead one across at a time, and then pulled the sleds 
across by hand. Before we commenced this task we found out 
where the ice was the strongest ; with a stick in one hand I went 
on the ice, but before I had gone very far I broke through and 
went into the water up to my arms. It was a pretty cold bath. 
The sun was just going down, it was cold weather, and there 
was no settler for about five miles ahead. This was a German family 
that had settled on the prairie in 1870. My clothes were frozen 
stifif to my body and were almost like birch bark, and they would 
have stood alone if I had crawled out of them. We got to the 
place where the Germans lived, sometime in the night, tied our 
oxen to the hay loads and went in to get thawed out. We went 
inside and warmed up some, and then went out again, but did 
not reach Balmoral Mill until the next evening. It was rather a 
small mill, run by water power, and located near Otter Tail Lake 
about five miles south of Otter Tail City, on a small stream of 
water which empties into the lake. This was the only grist-mill 
for a long distance in any direction, so that there were generally 
a lot of people waiting until their turn to have their grist ground. 
This was the case at this time, and we soon learned that nearly 
all of them were short of hay for their oxen. We made up our 
minds to stay out and watch our hay all night, and dug ourselves 
into the hay as well as we could, for it was rather too cold to 
stay out. All went along nicely until towards morning, when it 
commenced to snow, and the wind began to blow so hard that we 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 487 

had to leave our hay loads. We then went a little way from our 
loads and built a fire. Here we lay down, warmed ourselves on 
one side and froze on the other until daylight, when we started 
again on our journey. After we had gone a little way I found 
that the bottom of my moccasin was gone, so that I was walking 
on the snow in my stocking feet. I finally got hold of a piece of 
rope, with which I tied by moccasins, so as to keep them on my 
feet. The reason why they came off was because I had been too 
close to the fire trying to keep my feet warm. There were no 
stores on the way. so that I could not buy a new pair, and I had 
to use my old moccasins the best way I could for the next few 
days until I reached Otter Tail City on my way home. That same 
morning after we had camped about our hay loads at Balmoral 
Mills, we asked the proprietor of the mill, whose name was Crai- 
gie. if we could leave some of our hay wdth him so as to have hay 
there when we came back again to get our grist ground. He said 
we could leave it in his care until we came back ; we then started 
off south to buy wheat, leaving most of our hay at the mill. 
After we had left, some of those men who were out of hay went 
to Mr. Craigie and told him we had stolen some of their bow 
pins out of the ox bows, and in place of them claimed our hay, 
which they appropriated to their own use, so that we had not a 
spear left. We of course had not stolen or even seen their bow 
pins, but lost our hay just the same, so that we had very little 
reward for camping out in the snow-storm at Balmoral Mills. 

Some time in the latter part of April, 1871, we sowed our patches 
of breaking into wheat, and had the satisfaction of seeing it come 
up and it looked very fine. To our surprise it never got any 
farther. In examining into these matters we found that there 
were millions of young grasshoppers destroying it as fast as it 
grew up. The swarm of grasshoppers that had visited us in 1870 
had deposited their eggs in the ground, and were being hatched 
out by the sun in the spring. These young grasshoppers were so 
thick that they entirely covered the ground, and especially on our 
breaking where we had done a little planting. They destroyed 
nearly everything that came before them, even our clothes, if 
they could get at them. They stayed with us for about seven 
years, and destroyed almost everything that we planted every 
year. Potatoes and vegetables were nearly all destroyed. It 
looked rather blue those years. On account of their depredations, 
not many people came into our town to take claims during those 



488 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

years, and some got discouraged and left. In regard to the In- ^ 
dians which were around us, they seemed to be very friendly, and 
we were seldom bothered by them. I will, however, give an ac- 
count of a little controversy that I had with some of them. This 
was in June, 1871. I started to go down to the railroad camp, ' 
near Uak Lake Cut one morning to the stores, and my wife de- 
cided to go also, as there was not a white person to be seen very 
often. We started out with our oxen, and coming down past Mr. 1 
Christenson's, Mrs. Christenson decided that she wanted to go, 
too. She had a baby with her, and so had my wife. Those two 
women of ours went out for a pleasure trip, but it ended in the 
opposite direction. Everything went well until we were on our 
way back, about a mile or so from our homes, when we had to 
pass some Indians wdio were near the road, and some of them 
were drunk. There were two Indians and tw'o s(|uaw^s, and one 
of the squaws was so intoxicated that she could not stand up. 
One of the Indians and one of the scjuaws came up to our wagon, 
and asked us for "Scuttawabo," wdiich meant whisky. 

We did not have any, and tried to make her understand that 
we had none. The Indians began to search all over our wagon, 
and in among our packages, and after they had satisfied themselves 
that there was no whisky there, they began ransacking every pocket 
on my clothes, and not finding what they were after, gave up the 
search. I started up the oxen with the thought that the scare 
was all over. When the wagon started to move, the squaw took 
hold of the wagon wheel and tried to hold us, but her hand slipped 
from one spoke to another and finally she dr.jpped down at the 
side of the wagon and we went on. After we had gone about ten 
rods, one of the Indians came running after us. I \vas then walking 
ahead in the road driving the oxen, and when this Indian was 
about a rod back of the wagon my wife called to me, saying that 
there was no hope any longer as she heard him cock his gun. I 
then stopped the oxen, and when I looked back this Indian was 
again searching among our things in our wagon, and he held his 
right finger on the trigger of his gun. The first thing I did was 
to grab hold of the gun, and to turn the muzzle away from the 
wagon. After this we had a squabble over the gun. and in an in- 
stant I had the gun in my possession. Then the Indian thought 
that I was going to shoot him, and made motions that I should 
fire the gun into the air and there we stood. He was looking at 



A Pioneer History of Becker County 489 

me and I was looking at him; I then fired the gun, as the only 
thing I had to do was to pull the trigger, and off it went. It was 
then getting dusk and it gave a nice light for an instant. It was 
an old flint-lock gun and heavily loaded, so that the report was 
something like that from a small cannon. After I had fired the 
gun it struck me that I had better smash it over the wagon wheel, 
but having heard that the Indians were very revengeful, I gave 
up this idea and handed him the gun back again. He then com- 
menced to shake his powder horn and was going to reload. I 
stood right by him and prevented him from doing so, and when 
he found that he could not reload, he ran back as fast as he could 
towards his companions. I then picked up my little stick which 
I drove my oxen with, and we went on and did not see any more 
of them that night. It was very lucky, as the women were al- 
most scared out of their senses. 



RICHWOOD TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED. 

On June 23rd, 1871. the town of Richwood was organized, and 
the first town meeting was held in Haney's sawmill, on the 29th 
of September, 1871. The first town clerk elected was Hans Hanson, 
but as the records have been destroyed I cannot remember who 
the rest of the town officers were. School districts number 4 and 
7 were organized August 9th, 1872. These were the first school 
districts in the town. 

Ole Oualey says the first set of town officers of Richwood was 
as follows : 

Chairman of board of supervisors, W. W. ^IcLeod; supervisors, Ole 
Qualey and Sivert Sampson; township clerk, Hans Hanson; treasurer, 
Gabriel Halverson; justices of the peace, Tver Christenson, John Anderson. 

Peter Iverson and Hans Dierhoe. both Danes, came in May, 
1871. and settled on Section 6. 

Mr. Ezra Rumery settled on the northeast charter of Section 
34 in the spring of 1872. Mr. Rumery was one of the jurors in 
the trial of Bobolink for the Cook family murder. He was town 
clerk of Richwood for many years. A little later in the same 
spring Luke Collins and Sidney Brigham. both Americans from 
the state of Massachusetts, settled on the west half of Section 34. 
Our first school was taught by Miss Hattie Brigham, in the fore 
part of the summer 1873. We had no schoolhouse, but hired the 



490 A PioxEUR History of Becker County. 

shanty wliich Iver Larson had erected on his claim on Section 30 
for that pnrpose. In winding" up this little history of the early set- 
tlement of the town of Richwood, I will have to mention another 
trip that we made in September, 1871. The weather was nice, and 
Iver Christenson and I with our families started for Detroit Lake. 
We camped on the shore of the lake, where we had camped on the 
2nd of July the year before when we were moving into the country. 
We went along the lake shore when Mr. Christenson noticed a 
piece of colored paper floating on the water close to the land. We 
then picked it up, and after examining it came to the conclusion 
that it was a part of a ten dollar greenback. After looking for 
some more, we found several other pieces which belonged to the 
same bill. These pieces were carefully preserved and sent to the 
bank in St. Paul, which sent us by return $9.80, so this pleasure 
trip turned out better than the one to Oak Lake when the Indians 
tackled us. 

The first birth in the township of Richwood was that of Tolof 
Christenson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Christenson, who was born 
on the 19th of November, 1870. This same little boy died on the 
8th of October, 1871, and his death was the first to occur in the 
township. The first people to get married in the township were 
Swan Lundin and Emma Johnson, who were married on the 27th 
of April, 1872, by L. G. Stevenson, justice of the peace. 

Hans Hanson. 

W. G. Hazelton and William Long settled near Richwood Vil- 
lage in the spring of 1872. Mr. Hazelton has resided there ever 
since, and has been the leading spirit and the principal standby in 
that part of the township for many years. 

Ole Qualey is the only one of the settlers who came in 1870 
who is now living in Richwood. 



HISTORY OF RICHWOOD VILLAGE. 

In the fall of 1870 I sold my homestead in West Union, Todd 
County, Minn., and fixed up a good covered wagon and with a 
span of stout mules, took my neighbor E. E. Abbott and started 
for the Northern Pacific Railroad. We camped for dinner at Old 
Oak Lake, and while I was after a pail of water, a man by the name 
of Andrew J. Haney came along and was talking very earnestly 
with Mr. Abbott when I came back. He finally persuaded us 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 491 

to go home with him instead of going to where Lake Park is now 
as we had intended. Haney wanted to sell us a share in his saw- 
mill, and after buying a lot of eatables at Sterling's store, at Oak 
Lake we started north and after traveling about ten miles came to 
his mill dam where the village of Richwood now stands. We 
looked over his property, which looked quite favorable, and finally 
made a bargain for a third interest, although it was all on govern- 
ment land. I was the only one who had any ready money, as Abbott 
depended on Alexander Moore of Sauk Centre to give him a lift, 
which he did the next spring. 

The next spring we shipped a new sawmill to Benson, which 
was then the terminus of the nearest railroad and hauled it by 
team from there to the present village of Richwood, a distance of 
160 miles. In the month of May, 1871, I moved my family to 
the new mill and about the 20th of June the sawing commenced, 
with a low head of water, as it was a very dry summer and the 
streams were low. Our sawing proceeded slowly in consequence, 
but we secured a good price for all the lumber we sawed. 

That summer J. E. Van Gorden came to our place from Oak 
Lake Cut, where he had been clerking, and did a few jobs of car- 
penter work, and during his stay he traded his farm to Haney for 
his interest in his claim, mill and saw logs. Soon after that time 
I bought Abbott's interest, and then took one-third of Van Gor- 
den's interest, which made us equal owners. The next spring we 
received $1,000 in advance on lumber, but it went, and in the 
spring of 1874 the dam went out and I went out afterwards, and 
Knowles and A. S. Blowers went in and put a flour mill in opera- 
tion which was sold and resold until it was lastly bought by the 
present owner, Henry Reinhardt, who is a credit to all concerned. 

The first store was brought from Fergus Falls by two brothers 
by the name of Miles. They put a part of their goods in a large 
tent and a part of them in my house, and there they remained 
all summer, but were taken away in the fall 1871. The parties 
lived in Wisconsin. 

Richwood was so named from Richwood, Ontario, Canada, my 
native town. 

W. W. McLeod. 



492 A Pioneer History uf Becker County, 



First School in Richwood. 

The first school teacher in Richwood Township was Hattie 
Brigham, since Mrs. W. A. Norcross. In a letter to Mr. W. W. 
McLeod, slie says : 

You are correct in thinking that I taught the first school in Rich- 
wood. You will probably recollect that when you came after me, you 
were obliged to cut a road through the woods for the passage of the team. 
Finding that you would not get through in time, you left the oxen some- 
where in the vicinity of Campbell's Lake, and I came on foot. I was 
obliged to walk some distance, while you and another man carried my 
trunk. 

I first taught in the village of Richwood, the school beginning on the 
22d of September, 1872. This was the first school ever taught in that village. 
The district was composed of three families, that of W. W. McLeod, J. E. 
Van Gorden and E. E. Abbott, and the pupils were eleven in number. 
For the first two weeks the school was held in Mr. Win Gorden's house, and 
for the remainder of the term in a log house with a board addition. It 
was during my first week that the great snow-storm of September 25th oc- 
curred. 

The next spring I taught on the Richwood Prairie, in the Hans Han- 
son district, which was the first school taught there. 



Hugh Campbell. 

Hugh Campbell froze to death on the 20th of February, 1875. 
He lies buried in the same grave with William W. Harding in 
the Detroit cemetery, about midway in the front tier of lots. 
There is a little marble slab at the head of Harding's grave. When 
the cemetery was resurveyed in 1883. Campbell's grave was found 
to be in the street, so I had him taken up and placed beside his 
old neighbor. 

Biographical Sketch of Sidney Brigham. 

Sidney Brigham was born at Marlborough, Mass., August 4th, 
181 7. He was the son of Phineas Brigham, a soldier of the War 
of 1812, and of Lydia Wilkins Brigham, whose father was a Revo- 
lutionary soldier. He was a descendent in the seventh generation 
of the Puritan Thomas Brigham, who left England, April 8th, 
1653, and settled in Massachusetts. 

When he was five years old his father died, after an illness of 
seven years, of consumption, leaving Sidney the youngest but one 



A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 493 

of eight children, consequently his early educational advantages 
were limited, but he became a well informed man with more than 
ordinary acquaintance with the people and events of his own and 
other countries. On January 8th, 1839, he was married to Fanny 
N. Hemenway, a native of Farmingham, Mass., and lived happily 
with her for more than thirty-nine years. Nine children were 
born to them, four of whom died in early childhood, the remain- 
ing five daughters growing to womanhood. Those who died were 
two boys and two girls. 

On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, he enlisted in 
the 13th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, but he was unable to 
pass the necessary medical examination, and was obliged to return 
home. Though he was prevented from serving his country in the 
field, his patriotism was unbounded, and by word and vote he 
sustained the government and its defenders, and his hand and 
purse were ever ready at their call. 

On account of ill health of himself and other members of his 
family he decided to settle in Minnesota, and leaving Massachusetts, 
on the 22nd day of July, 1872, with his wife and five daughters, he 
reached Detroit in Becker County, August 2nd, and on the 4th 
of the same month, his fifty-fifth birthday, took up his residence on 
a timber claim in the town of Richwood. There 1)eing' no road to 
his claim, he was obliged to follow the Indian trail to Floyd Lake, 
skirt the shore of that body of water for a certain distance, cross 
through the timber to the Pelican River, where it enters Little 
Floyd Lake and fording that stream, strike out a road for himself 
by following a footpath to his claim. A tamarack swamp blocked 
the way. Having taken his oxen through the swamp, he dared 
not undertake the crossing, but hired teams to take the lumber 
for his house, boxes of goods, etc., as far as the swamp, where 
they were unloaded, unpacked, carried or backed through the swamp 
to where his own team was in waiting, reloaded and taken to his 
home. Fortunately the road through the timber to White Earth 
was soon opened, the corduroys laid through the swamps and 
before winter set in, while the corduroys were still guiltless of 
earth, he had the privilege and the honor of being the first man to 
drive a team over the new road to Detroit. Notwithstanding his 
age and ill health, his industry and energy were unfailing, and 
he went to work with a will to make a home in the wilderness. 
He built a log house and spent his days in clearing his land and 



494 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

in the labors of seed time and harvest. Twice the grasshoppers 
descended on his fields and destroyed the fruits of his labors, but 
still he was ready to try again with faith in ultimate prosperity. 

In the spring of 1877 his health began to fail rapidly and he 
gradually relinquished his most arduous labors. As winter ap- 
proached and he was unable to swing an ax, a long handle was 
attached to a hatchet and with it he continued to clear the brush 
from the land, and piling it about trees, previously killed, or in 
which he had bored holes with an auger to give a better hold to 
the flames, he burned all together making ready for breaking the 
soil. But at last this was relinquished, and after a few more 
weeks of great suffering borne with remarkable patience and for- 
titude, on the 30th day of April, 1878, he laid down life's bur- 
dens and rested from his labors. 

Below are the children of Sidney and Fanny N. Brigham who 
settled with them in Becker County : 

Clara J. was born in Stow, Mass., March 19th, 1844, ai'^d moved 
to Spokane, Washington, May ist, 1884. 

Amelia R. was born in Stow, Mass., Jan. loth, 1846; was a 
teacher in Becker County, and she married J. H. Sutherland of 
Detroit, Jan. ist, 1875. 

Hattie M. was born in Hudson, Mass., Dec. 19th, 1853 ; she 
was a teacher in Becker County and married W. A. Norcross of 
Detroit, Dec. 19th, 1875. 

Nellie F. was born in Marlborough, Mass., Nov. 27th, 1855 ; 
she was a teacher in Becker County and married C. H. Potter of 
Detroit, April 5th, 1876, and moved to Spokane, Washington, May 
1st, 1884. 

Angie S. was born in Marlborough, Mass., Nov. nth, 1859; 
she taught in Becker County and moved to Spokane, Washington, 
May ist, 1884, and married C. H. Dart of Spokane, June ist, 1887. 
Mrs. West. Mrs. J. H. Sutherland. 



Luke Collins. 



Luke Collins was born at Southboro, Mass., August 3rd, 1816. 
He learned the trade of boot and shoe making, and became a 
superior workman, holding places of responsibility when in the 
employ of others, and also engaging in the business as a manu- 
facturer. About 1845, he was married to Sophia H. Heminway 



A ProNEER History of Becker County. 495 

of Marlborough, Mass. Three sons were born to them, one of 
whom came with hun to Minnesota. The others, twins, dying in 
infancy. His wife survived them only a few weeks ; .she died in 
February, 1857. He never remarried. Though nearly forty-five 
years of age he was one of the first to answer Lincoln's call for 
"three year men" in 1861, enlisting in Company "F," Thirteenth 
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, leaving for Washington in July. 
He was detailed as driver of medical stores and later as ambulance 
driver; in the latter capacity during and after the battle of Antie- 
tam, September 17th, 1862, he labored in carrying away and caring 
for the wounded three days and nights without rest thereby con- 
tracting the disease which necessitated his discharge from the 
service in Jan., 1863, and which finally resulted in his death. He 
was popular with his comrades being known as Uncle and Daddy 
Luke. After his discharge from the army he returned to Massa- 
chusetts and pursued his ordinary avocation until June, 1872, when 
he with his son removed to Minnesota, taking up a claim in 
Richwood, Becker County. On the 30th of May, 1888, he insisted 
on marching with his comrades to the cemetery to place his tribute 
of respect and loving remembrance upon the graves of those who 
had fallen from the ranks. His sight was so nearly gone that he 
found it difficult to keep in line and once he wandered from the 
ranks. Afterwards he marched with his hand on the comrade 
preceding him and in that way was able to keep his place. The 
hard march was too much for him with his failing strength, and 
the next day a violent attack of neuralgia of the heart developed 
which resulted fatally in the early morning of the ist of June. 
His funeral was conducted by F. C. Choate Post, Number 67 of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was a member. To 
the music of the fife and drum his comrades escorted his remains 
to the cemetery and with a volley of musketry left him at rest in 
a soldier's grave. 

Mrs. West. Mrs. J. H. Suthereand. 



496 



A PioxEKR History of Becker Ccjuxty, 



Chapter XXVIII. 



HAMDEN TOWNSHIP. 

Lars (3esox Ramstad. 
Lars Olson Rainstad was born in Toten, Norway. Aug'ust. 13th. 
1849, ^"<^ ^^"^^ educated in the public school from the age of six 
to ten, then in a ])ri\'ate school until he was fourteen, when he 
was confirmed in the Lutheran church. He worked on the home 
farm for two rears, and then went into a country store as clerk 




LARS O. RAMSTAD. 



01. 10 A. BOE. 



for three years. He emigrated to the United States in 1869 and 
landed in Quebec, May 17th. He came directly to Lanesboro, Fill- 
more Count}-, -Minnesota, where an uncle Haagan Anderson was 
living ten miles south of Lanesboro. He remained there one year. 
In the latter part of May. 1870, he started with another uncle, Ole 
Peterson and family, and Jens Sukkestad (a cousin), Ole J. Xet- 
tum and Iver Knudson being also in the company. They had two 
covered wagons and tw'O double ox teams. Ramstad at this time 
only owned a cow ; among them all the}- had about 23 head of 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 497 

slock. They camped the first night between Preston and Chat- 
fiehl, grass furnishing food for the stock. They had four teams 
of working oxen, and it sometimes took the cond)ined teams to 
pull a single wagon out of the mud encountered on the way. 
They came through Rochester, Zumbrota, Cannon Falls, St. Paul, 
St. Anthony, Elk River, and St. Cloud, where the railroad stopped 
then, and followed a trail to Cold Spring ^Nlill and then on to Sauk 
Centre, Osakis and Alexandria. They stopped a day there and 
bought provisions. They then resumed their travels to Chippewa 
and Clitheral. They found log houses and Indians camping there, 
and remained for some days looking over the coimtry. Iver 
Knudson and Jens Sukkestad went ahead on foot to John Heav- 
er's house, west of Audubon wdiich is still standing ( 1894), 
and came back with so goodly a report of the countrx' that they 
had seen that the rest of the party went on to the same point. 
John r)eaver was one of the first l)oard of county commission- 
ers. His land was on Section 8, Audubon. Dr. Pyle's home 
is still standing southwest of I'eaver's on the hill south of the 
road going to Beaver's. All thought they had never seen a 
finer prospect. The grass in some jdaces was two and a half 
feet high, the ToJlihg prairie was dotted with lakes and groves 
here and there ; so liei-e they tarried. From Clitheral to Otter 
Tail City they were obliged to ford the streams and cross the 
sloughs. They cut pine boughs and placed them in the swamjjs; 
when they reached the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, 
where Frazee now stands, the men waded in the stream to 
their armpits, the women climbing onto the highest boxes in the 
wagons, and the young stock swam across. At Oak Lake two 
trails could be seen, one leading to White Earth, the other west, 
used by the Indians. Peterson and Sukkestad took land adjoining 
in Audubon, Section 4. Ramstad took some land in Section 32, 
in Hamden, and two lots in Section 33. He selected the same 
on July 1st, 1870, and got his papers in 1872. Xettum took land 
in Section 2,- in Hamden. He and Ramstad were the first settlers 
in that townshi]). Hans Ebeltoft located in June, 1870, and settled 
there in 1871. Tom Reese, brother-in-law of Isaac Jenkins, took 
land late in the fall of 1870, on Section 12, and Belmont Clark in 
the same year, on the same section. On November 4th, the town 
was named for him. John Bill came next. ^^^ A. ^^'ilkins 
came in 1871 and bought Belmont Clark's claim. Xels Ander- 
son, an earlv settler came then. Ramstad was married Feb- 



498 A Pioneer History op Becker County. 

ruary nth, 1875, to Annie L. Johnson, sister of Ole Johnson. The 
ceremony was performed l)y Rev. Tharaldson in the Congrega- 
tional Church. The first Norwegian Lutheran meeting was held 
in John Beaver's house in the fall of 1870. Rev. Watleson hold- 
ing service. Here the synod church was formed. The preacher 
came there twice yearly from Otter Tail County. They decided 
to become a conference church the next year, 1871. 

A great prairie fire raged in the fall of 1870, starting at Bufifalo 
River ; it swept over Richwood, then down across the prairie and 
only stopped in the Oak Lake woods. Ramstad then saw A. H. 
Wilcox for the first time. He was surveying for the government 
and had to start a back-fire to protect himself. Henry Way 
speaks of the same fire. He and C. A. Sherman had to run for 
their lives and just escaped. A rain-storm put it out finally. 

Lars O. Ramstad was supervisor and assessor in 1872-73-82. 

Mrs. West. 



HAMDEN TOWNSHIP. 

By L. O. R.\mstad. 
L. O. Ramstad, March 12th, 1894, said : "During the fall of 1870, 
a large party of forty or fifty carriages camped on Section 5 of 
Audubon. They kept up firing all night, which startled the settlers 
as they did not see them come in and did not know what to make 
of it. They proved to be a party of railroad people who had come 
from Red River. They had not seen them go out. Late the same fall, 
1870, on Section 6, in Audubon, Gunder Carlson was shot by 
Indians, he being upon his claim with a son nine or ten years old. 
They had gone to bed when Mr. Carlson, noticing a bright light, 
stepped to the door and out into the yard, when he saw it was from 
his haystacks. The Indian, who had come for plunder, had set the 
stacks on fire, and standing behind Carlson and the haystacks fired. 
Carlson called to his boy who came to him when he was shot, and 
they went around to the stable to turn out the stock. Carlson and 
the boy went that night to Christ. Anderson's. Next morning the 
neighbors heard of it and those who cared and could be mustered 
went to the relief. Ramstad, Gregory, Henry Way and Doctor 
Pyle were there. Carlson lived several years after this but finally 
died of the wounds. The first graveyard in Audubon was on Way's 
farm, and Gunder Carlson was buried there. Carlson's son in 1894 
was living on Ole Boe's place in Section 29, Hamden Township. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 499 

One hundred and seven signed a petition to Governor Austin 
begging- protection from the Indians, the result being that after 
this and the Cook murder the Indians had to have a pass when they 
were off the reservation, which they would hold up above their 
heads whenever they came within range of a settler. Indians would 
lie about and watch Ramstad at work, but he would pay no attention 
to them. In the winter of 1870-71, Ramstad Sukkestad and three 
others lived together for protection. They killed a steer and had 
game in abundance. Ramstad was cook and would put the pot 
on with water heating, and go out with his gun and get prairie 
chickens for breakfast without trouble. He went to Alexandria 
in the fall of 1870. It took him thirteen days to make the trip with 
an ox team. He got flour, $1 worth of sugar and coffee. Sukkestad 
went to Otter Tail City in the winter for flour. They gathered from 
their hay some kind of grass from which they made the tea they 
drank that winter, and thus the five men spent the winter. In 1870 
kerosene oil was 80 cents a gallon at B. B. Anderson's store, grain 
sacks 50 cents each, calico 18 cents a yard, matches 40 cents a box 
with about 500 in a box, unbleached sheeting 19 cents a yard, 
potatoes 80 cents a bushel, one quarter pound of common tea was 
fifty cents, box of pills 75 cents, one half gallon of molasses 80 
cents, scythe $2.00, snath $1.50, whetstone 40 cents, stove pipe 40 
cents a length. Hay sold for ten dollars a ton in the spring of 1871. 
In 1870 lard oil for greasing boots was 45 cents a quart, one half 
barrel of salt was $3.25, and in September linseed oil was 25 cents 
a pint. In the summer of 1870 the mosquitoes were very bad; one 
of the men would sit up all night to keep a smudge. They brought 
dogs with them to help protect themselves and the stock, taking 
turns to do this. All slept in their wagons from June until October, 
1870, and found the mosquitoes very annoying. 

In the winter of 1871 flour was $5.00 a sack, beans 7 cents a 
pound, pork, only a shilling; brown sugar, 15 cents; axes, $1.75; 
wooden pail, 40 cents ; smoking tobacco, 25 cents a quarter pound ; 
breaking land was $5.00 per acre. In 1872, yellow sugar was 17 
cents a pound. In the winter of 1871-72, they were paid $1 a cord 
for chopping wood, and wagon grease was 25 cents a box. Ham- 
den was at first called Belmont. Another town in Minnesota had the 
same name and it was changed. Settlers had to pay a carrier who 
went from Oak Lake to Otter Tail City live cents for a letter 
besides the postage. In the fall of 1872 was the first reaping 



500 A PioNEKR History of Beckkr County. 

that Ramstad knew of, B. B. Hemstock "cut grain with a reaper, 
and Thomas Pierce raked after him with a hand rake. Ramstad 
worked on the railroad in the fall of 1871, and on the gravel train 
in 1872. There were no buildings but tents in Fargo; the 
Headquarter's Hotel was building then. He bought pine lumber 
at Richwood of McLeod in 1872, before Frazee had started. He 
sa}s that grasshoppers appeared in the summer of 187 1 in June, 
and in 1872. In 1873 it was a wet season and they did not bother 
much, but were back in 1874 and hatched out in 1875, and they 
came back in 1876, but left for good in 1877. It seemed as if they 
were swept off. In 1877 they seemed to destroy the whole plant 
of wheat, eating head straw and all. Governor Pillsbury appointed 
a day of prayer for the abolition of this scourge and the people 
well attended the church services. The first mowing with machine 
brought $5.00 per day and $3. 00 for machine raking. 

I saw Mr. L. S. Cravath early in the spring of 1871, before the 
snow went off. He and two other men had been over to Section 34, 
where he had taken a claim the fall before. He and his family were 
then stopping at Dr. Pyle's house, about four miles southwest from 
his claim. He moved onto his claim soon afterwards and if Mrs. 
Cravath went with him she was the first white woman in the town- 
ship. Hans Ebeltoft's family did not come until May or June. 

W. A. Wilkins told me the name of the township had been 
changed from Belmont to Hamden because there was another Bel- 
mont in the state, but he could not tell why it was called Hamden, 
and I never knew. 

Late in the fall of 1871 several of us were working on the rail- 
road grade, hauling dirt with our oxen from a cut to a dump a 
little west of Mu.skoda in Clay County. In our party were Andrew 
Jenson. Simon Jenson, J. O. Sukkestad, Chris Olson, now a Lake 
Park banker, Thorville Hanson, Ammund Borstad, P. A. O. Peter- 
son and Chris E. Bjorge, another banker. Chris Olson's oxen ran 
home one night, but Olson was on hand with the oxen the next 
monfing all the same after a chase of nearly thirty nfiles. One time 
I went home after a load of supplies for the camp. I started from 
home at four in the morning and all went well until I came near 
to where Winnipeg Junction is now when I saw smoke coming 
up from the southwest with a strong wind. I kept on the bluffs 
along the border of the valley, but in a short time I found that the 
situation was a grave one, and my only hope was to get across to 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 501 

the north side of the railroad grade at the Buffalo River crossing-. 
I drove on and urged the oxen faster and faster with the fire close 
behind, and with our oxen nearly exhausted we crossed the grade 
with the fire close to our heels, but we were where we were safe 
and gave the oxen a much needed rest. I arrived at the camp 
nearly midnight. 

Game was very plentiful. I once shot two sand-hill cranes at 
one shot, and wild geese were nesting in the small lakes nearly all 
summer. 

I would here like to mention one useful person : Mrs Hannah 
Ebeltoft, mother of Hans and Peter Ebeltoft. She was born in 
Sweden and married to Peter Ebeltoft, Sr., who died in Freeborn 
County before the Ebeltofts came to Becker County. She was 
the mother of twelve children and adopted three more who lived 
with her until maturity. She followed the calling of midwife 
until the time of her death, when she was over ninety years old, and 
the number of her patients ran into the thousands. She was a 
blessing to the people of this county during its early settlement 
when we had no doctors, going wherever called, whether in 
Becker, ( )tter Tail, Clay, or Xorman counties, in heavy snow- 
storms, dark, rainy nights, in some cases being ferried across 
rivers in wagon boxes too deep to be crossed with a team, and 
in many instances she was the saver of lives after they had been 
gi\en up by skillful physicians. 



Early Reminiscences of Hamden, 

By AIrs. L. S. Cravatii. 
In the latter part of October, 1870, my husband, Mr. L. S. Cra- 
vath left Saratoga, Minnesota, in company with Ward Bill for the 
Northern Pacific country, wdiere he intended to file on govern- 
ment land, and return to Saratoga to spend the six months, before 
it was necessary to take his family onto the claim. They found 
so much excitement over claims that he decided to remain and 
send for his family to join him. Accordingly he accepted a posi- 
tion in T. M. Ault's railroad store. The latter part of December 
of the same year, I started with my three little boys and maid ; 
we were nearly frightened to death by the solicitude of friends, 
who prophesied, either freezing to death in a blizzard, or starving 
for lack of food, or being killed by Indians ; still the prospect of 



502 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



a united family gave me courage to go. The journey from Sauk 
Centre to Otter Tail City was made by stage. That town and 
its hotel were the newest of the new, and barren of all comforts. 
My husband did not reach there until morning and then we made 
the journey to the railroad camp, which was between what is 




MKS. I,. S. CR.WATH ANH 1 1.\ L'l ; H 1 K K 



now Frazee and Detroit Lake, in a lumber wagon. I had never 
seen a railroad camp before and the long, low, log buildings 
covered with dirt, and filled with rough, unshaven men, were far 
from attractive. The next night after reaching the camp, it being 
Christmas eve, the contractor furnished the men whisky, and 
such a carousal as they had, forty or fift}' men in one room and 
nearly all howling drunk. The men's quarters were on one side 



A l^ioNEER History of Becker County. 503 

of the kitchen and eating room and the store on the other. Our 
family arose and dressed and went into the store to sit the night 
out. I asked the contractor if the men Avere killing each other. 
"Oh no," he said, "I guess you are not used to Christmas carols, 
Mrs. Cravath." We stayed at the camp only about six weeks, 
and then went to Dr. Pyle's, where we lived until we moved onto 
our claim the first part of April. Dr. Pyle, whose large frame 
indicated his big, generous heart, made every one welcome, and 
divided room with each newcomer, as long as another bed could 
be crowded onto the floor. He made the first Fourth of July ora- 
tion delivered in Becker County, and it was a good one. Near the 
close he praised the country, the men, and the women, and mov- 
ing his hand in a circle to include the young mothers that held 
their babies, said, and the babies, the plentiest, the prettiest in the 
world, God bless them," and sat down amid roars of applause. 
To the credit of the Audubon people, be it said, that four years 
later, when the doctor was about to move to Monticello, Minne- 
sota, they made a banquet for him and presented to him a gold- 
headed cane on which was engraved a chronicle of his helpfulness 
to the early settlers; and we were told that the cane proved an 
open sesame to a good practice there. 

My husband found it a long way to go five miles every day to 
work on the buildings on our claim, so as soon as the stable of 
unhewed logs was completed we moved into it. There was not 
a house nor claim shanty in sight, yet we were never homesick 
nor discouraged, but full of hope for the future. 

In 1871 my husband was elected to the legislature, and in 
1872 appointed local land agent and townsite agent for the 
Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In the months of May 
and June, 1871, the settlers commenced coming, and many shanties 
were built on claims, and the tent town of Oak Lake having 
arisen in all its glory, visitors of note commenced to come. We 
met there Hon. William Windom ; Hon. Schuyler Colfax; C. C. 
Coffin, the author; Rev. E. P. Smith, the first Congregational 
Indian agent, at White Earth ; the bogus Lord Gordon (that cut 
so wide a swath) and his company. Bayard Taylor, the traveler, 
remarked as he drove over Oak Lake hill, "That he had seen no 
finer natural scenery, not even in Switzerland." Our family 
owned our homestead for thirty-six years, and lived on it all of the 
time, excepting the five years we lived in St. Charles for the 



504 A PioNKER History of Beckf.r County. 

])urpose of cdncatini;- our children. \\e bout^jht land adjoinini^ 
our homestead, until the farm numbered four hundred and 
fifteen acres. Every tree and shrub we set out and with infinite 
pleasure, watched them grow, to their present beauty. They 
can be seen for miles around and certainly add a charm to the 
landscape. It was a sorrow to leave them and again take up 
pioneer life in North Dakota. Four of the children were born 
there and two married in the old home; one under one of the 
trees in front of the house. 

The development of Becker County has been wonderful. Not 
even during the grasshopper scourge did the settlers accept aid, 
but bravely struggled on to earn a living. School houses and 
churches, are as numerous as in places that have been settled 
a hundred years, and scores of people have attained wealth here. 



Supplementary History of Hamden. 
By Walter W. Wilkins. 

As L. O. Ramstad and Mrs. West have made a good begin- 
ning of the history of Hamden, and brought it up to the close of 
the year 1870, I will begin where they left ofT. 

In November, 1870, Thomas Reese and Ole J. Weston took 
claims on Section 12, John Bill took a claim on Section 28, and 
Belmont Clark and L. S. Cravath took claims on Section 34, also 
Ward Bill. 

In the spring of 1871 there was quite an influx of emigration, 
and nearly all the government land was taken up during the year. 

C. A. Arvidson, Daniel Amos, and Nels Nelson settled on 
Section 2 that spring. Ellef N. Jellum and Anders Nelson took 
claims on the east half of Section 4, and Erick Overgaard on 
Section 6. 

Christian Larson located on the southwest quarter of Section 
8. He was the father of Sivert Larson and Ole C. Larson, the 
present sheriff, neither of these boys being old enough- to hold 
a homestead at that time. The remainder of Section 8 was 
taken about the same time by Nels Olson, Nicoli Overgaard, and 
a man by the name of Ingebretson. 

Nels Anderson took a homestead on Section 12. 

Samuel H. Dahlen settled on Section 14, as did also Louis 
Peterson and Carl I'lyberg. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 505 

John O. Herfindal. John Johnson and Peter Wilson settled on 
Section 18, Rolf Aniundson, Tosten Olson, Sylfest Branser, 
Peter Ellingson and L. L. Ramstad all located on Section 20. 

John S. Davis, Dan Lodin and Gutorm Garness settled on 
Section 24. On Section 26, Thomas Pierce and Ole K. Black. 




JUDGE W. W. WILKINS. 

John F. Crowl and Joseph McKnight settled on Section 28; 
Stengrem N. Jellum, C. \\'. Mickelson. Lars A. Larson and John 
A. Herfindal located on Section 30. 

W. A. Wilkins and Ole Davis settled on Section 32. and 
Aaron Cravath and Benjamin Hemstock located on Section 34. 

Li 1872 W. W. A^'ilkins settled on Section 12, northeast 
qnarter, and W. S. Mois on Section 26, and A. K. Murray bought 
the John Bill place on Section 28. 



Township Organization. 

The town was organized in September, 1871, and the first 
town election w^as held at the house of John Bill on Section 28, 
the 19th day of September, 1871, and the following officers were 



5o6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

elected: W. A. A\'ilkins, chairman; Lars O. Ramstad and Isaac 
Farmer, supervisors; L. S. Cravath, town clerk; Benjamin Hem- 
stock, treasurer; Lars Larson, justice of peace and Ole Davis, 
constable. 

The first white child born in Hamden township was Ingebor 
Dahlen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Dahlen, who was 
born on the tenth of November, 1871. She is now the wife of 
Edward Mobraaten, and they live in Wendall, Minn. 

The first recorded birth of a boy in the township is that of 
Ingebret Olson, born December 14th, 1872. He was the son of 
Tosten and Anna Olson, and is now dead. First death recorded,. 
Gunil Herfindal, died Alarch iSth, 1873. 

The town was first named Belmont, but later changed to Ham- 
den. The first marriage was Ole A. Boe to Julia Ebeltoft, Dec. 
8th, 1872, ceremony performed by Rev. Hagebo, Lutheran minis- 
ter. 

The old soldiers were W. A. Wilkins, L. A. Larson, E. N. 
Jellum, O. A. Boe, Nels Anderson, C. W. Seebold and W. W. 
Wilkins. 

Lucretia Parsons was the first school teacher in the township. 

In the fall of 1871 I was living with my brother on Section 
32 in the town of Hamden. Game was very plentiful, especially 
ducks, geese and prairie chickens. It was no trouble to keep our 
families in meat, as all we had to do was to look out on the lake 
in the morning and see where the ducks were, which would be 
located according to the wind, and with a double-barreled shot gun 
we could usually kill enough to last the whole day. We had a 
small boat in the lake that was just large enough to carry one 
man, which we used in our hunting excursions. It was a small 
affair and at first we had to be very careful. After a while we 
got used to it and could shoot from the boat without any fear of 
upsetting. One day, however, I was out chasing a wounded 
duck without success, and I finally concluded I would go down 
to the other end of the lake and let her die, and pick her up when 
I came back, but I had hardly turned around when my boat 
swamped and the first thing I knew, I was out in the lake. I 
caught my gun with one hand and the edge of the boat with the 
other, so I had something to hang onto, but I was in a bad fix,, 
eighty rods from shore and unable to swim a stroke. The bottom 
of the lake was so soft that I could not stand, the boat was full of 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 507 

water and I could get no foothold to empty it and there was not 
another boat anywhere in the vicinity. After being in the lake for 
more than two hours the boat drifted ashore on the side of the 
lake opposite to my home and I had lost all confidence in myself, 
as a sailor, but rather than walk for miles around the lake, I 
finally decided to take my chances in the boat, which took me 
back across the lake in safety. 

Soon after the Cook family murder all our neighbors, except 
one family, gathered together in the stockade at Lake Park. This 
one family was that of Ole Davis, and together with my brother 
William's family and my own decided to stay together in my 
brother's house, as we were well armed and had a good dog that 
would not let any one come near without making a great fuss, 
so we all slept soundly every night until the scare was over. 

In July, 1871, the grasshoppers came down in multitudes, but 
we had nothing for them to eat that year, but they laid immense 
quantities of eggs which hatched out in the spring of 1872, and 
ate up everything that we had sown, and had it not been that 
muskrats were plentiful, and brought a high price, many of the 
settlers would have suffered for the necessaries of life. 

W. W. WiEKINS. 



Artesian Wells. 

Hamden Township is famous for its artesian wells, and some 
of the finest springs in Becker County are to be found on the line 
between Sections 35 and 36. There is also a spring of strong, pure, 
sulphur water near the quarter section corner between Sections 
25 and 36. This spring is supposed to possess superior medicinal 
properties when drank fresh from the spring, but the water loses 
its mineral properties after standing for a few hours even when 
corked up tight in an earthen jug. 



Hans Ebeltoft. 
Hans Ebeltoft was born in Tromso, Norway, January 15th, 
1836, and came to America in 1862, enlisted in the United States 
army in 1864 and remained with it until the close of the war. He 
was married to Gunhild Michelson on June 9th, 1867, and came to 
Becker County, June 5th, 1870, where he took a claim on Section 
31 in the town of Hamden. His family came the year afterwards 
from Freeborn County, Minn. 



5o8 



A Pioneer History uf Becker County, 




MR. AND -MRS. HANS EBELTOFT. 



In 1887 he mo\'e(l to tlie village of Lake Park, where he resided 
until his death, Aug. loth, 1903, leaving his wife and ten living 
children. He served two terms as county commissionerrjand 
several terms as a memher of the village council of Lake Park. 

Severt Ebeltoft. 




MARTIN OLSON. 



MRS. M.ARTIN OLSON. 




B. O. BERGERSON. 



MRS. B. O. BERGERSON. 



510 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter XXIX. 



HISTORY OF CUBA TOWNSHIP. 

By B. O. Bergerson- 

The town of Cuba was mostly settled during" the years of 1871 
and 1872. A few came in 1870, but they were only three or four. 
Their names were Martin Olsen, B. O. Bergerson, Halvor M. 
Beaver and Ole Kittelson. Nearly every government quarter 
section was settled on during the years 1871 and 1872. 

Martin Olson was the first to arrive in the township, although 
the land was not surveyed at that time, so that this locality did 
not possess a name. Next after him came the writer. Bernt O. 
Bergerson. I was born in Norway, July 23, 1847, ^^^ ^i^^ "^y 
parents came to America in the year 1852, and settled in Winni- 
shiek County, Iowa, in the village of Decorah, where my father 
worked for a man named Painter, who was building a canal and 
mill, which was the first mill in that county. In the year 1863, 
we moved to the town of Bancroft, Freeborn County, Minnesota, 
where my father opened up a new farm, and after working on 
that farm until the year 1870, I started west to find a farm for 
myself. After traveling with an ox team for twenty-one days, I 
finally arrived at my present homestead, the southwest quarter of 
Section 36. The land was not surveyed yet. If it had been, I 
could not have taken it as a homestead, for it would have become 
school land when surveyed, it being on Section 36. I was not 
married then, so I had to "bach" it that summer; but late in the 
fall of that year I hitched my oxen to the wagon and turned their 
heads towards Albert Lea and went over the road once more that 
year. I slept out of doors every night and late in the fall the 
ground was frozen hard nearly every night. I arrived safe at 
my father's farm in Freeborn County, none the worse for the 
trip both ways with a pair of oxen, which is not the fastest way 
to get over the country roads. That winter I visited with my 
folks till in the early spring when I got married to Ingeborg 
Grasdalen, a daughter of a neighbor of my parents. Immediate- 
ly after we were married we started for Becker County in company 
with several others who wanted to go and get land for themselves. 
The parties who came with me that spring" were my brother-in- 




LARS P. LAITE. 



MKS. LAKS P. LAITE. 




OLE KITTELSON. 



CAROLINE LAITE. 
First white girl born in Cuba. 



512 A PioNKER History oi' Bkckrr County. 

law, Lars P. Laite and Erick Quam. They are still living in the 
county. On arriving at my claim that spring, I found everything as 
I had left it. The previous summer I had built a house which 
came handy now when I brought my wife home with me. We 
lived through that summer mostly on what we had brought with us. 
Then in the winter, I had to go to work in the woods hauling ties 
and cutting cord-wood for the railway company in order to get 
flour and pork ; besides, we had three cows which were a great 
help to us. In 1871, the year the railroad was built through here, 
we sold milk and butter in the railroad camps near our home for 
a good price. They mostly paid us in groceries, but they paid us 
well, I thought. The first years we tried to farm, we did not have 
any success, the grasshoppers and blackbirds got in their work 
so that we were left without anything, not even seed. I had to buy 
seed wheat three times. The first I bought cost $1.90 a bushel, 
the second lot cost $1.50, and the third lot cost $1.25. In order 
to get that last seed I had to sell a cow, which was a great loss, 
because the cows were our main support then as now. I stay by 
the cows yet, and this is thirty-five years after, and I will always 
stay by them as long as I stay on the farm. A good many of the 
settlers went to Dakota to do breaking, and also some of them did 
breaking for a Mr. Paul Van Vlissingen, who opened a farm near 
where Hitterdal now is, in Clay County; and in 1872 a man by 
the name of M. E. d'Engelbroner, opened a large farm in the 
western part of Cuba. 

This township was organized in the winter of 1871-72. We 
held our first election at the claim shack of Halvor Beaver. There 
were quite a few of the early settlers present at that election ; so 
far as I can remember the following settlers were there : Charles 
W. Smith, Alonzo F. Chase, Thomas Torgerson, H. M. Beaver, 
Thorville Hanson, Amund Baarstad, H. Salveson, Lars P. Laite, 
Ole Kittelson, Barney Qlson, Torger Matson, Ole Asleson, Andrew 
Pederson and B. O. Bergerson. At that meeting it was decided 
to name the town AlcPherson, after a famous general in the 
civil war, but it was discovered that we could not get that name, 
as there was another town by that name in the state. At a later 
meeting it was finally named Cuba by Charles W. Smith, in honor 
of the village of Cuba, Allegany County, New York, the native 
place of Mr. Smith. Smith was appointed town clerk to act 
until we held a regular town election. At the regular town elec- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 513 

tion Theodore Holton was elected town clerk, he being the first 
town clerk elected in the town of Cuba. As there is no record 
of the first town meeting I am unable to say positively who 
were the first board of supervisors, but I do remember that two of 
them were Ole Kittelson and Thomas Torgerson, the last being 
chairman. Charles W. Smith was the first assessor, and B. O. 
Bergerson was first justice of the peace. Theodore Holton was 
town clerk for three years ; after him was Thomas Torgerson, 
who held the office for four years ; then after him, B. O. Bergerson 
was elected and he has held the office ever since. 

This town was settled principally by Norwegians and Swedes, 
about all of them coming in the years 1870-71-72. Being near 
the railroad, even numbered sections were opened for homestead 
entry. If every section could have been settled, all the land would 
have been taken those three years. Besides the Norwegians and 
Swedes there were a few Irish settlers in town those early days, 
but some are dead and some have gone away. There is only one 
family now, Hugh Sullivan's, who reside on Section 30. Be- 
sides the Irish we had some American families, but those of the 
early settlers have gone away. We have some that came later. 

In the winter of 1872-73, we had to look to something else be- 
sides our crops for a living, as they gave us nothing for the winter 
except a few potatoes, so some of us went cutting cordwood and 
others went hauling ties to the railroad. I hauled ties which was 
both trying on man and oxen. The snow was deep and the cold 
was intense. We got $2.00 a day for man and team, and we had 
to make two trips each day with from 22 to 24 ties each load. In 
order to do that we had to be out in the woods before daylight, and 
never got back to camp until after dark. We who hauled by the 
day had to load our own loads which was very hard work when 
we had to work in snow from two to three feet deep in the woods. 
When loading we got wet from snow, and when we got out of 
the woods on the prairies where the wind blew hard with the 
mercury at forty below zero, and the roads drifted full of snow, 
we would chill to the bones, but we did not mind it much, for when 
we got back to the camp in the evening and got our oxen stabled 
and our supper over we had forgotten all our hardships suffered 
during the day. 

The next winter I was cutting cordwood. We got eighty 
cents per cord, and we had' to pay fifteen cents a pound for salt 



514 A P'loxEKR History of Becker County. 

pork and $8.00 per barrel for flour. Money we hardly ever saw. 
What paid best was trapping. Fur was high those days and this 
helped us quite a bit. I can remember that I got as high as thirty 
cents for muskrats. One Christmas eve in 1873, we had nothing 
for Christmas, and no money to get anything with, but having a few 
muskrat pelts I went to Lake Park and traded them for groceries. 
1 was allowed twenty-eight cents for the rats so we had a merry 
Christmas after all. 

In July, 1871, a swarm of grasshoppers settled over this country, 
and as there were but few grain fields they did not do much damage 
that }'ear, but most of the new^ settlers had broken a few acres of 
new land, and while the grasshoppers stayed there they put in their 
time laying eggs in the new breaking, and all the bare spots they 
could find. After they had finished laying, they arose one windy 
day and left us for that year. The next year, 1872, the eggs 
hatched out in the early summer, and the grasshoppers began 
their work of destruction. That year they ate everything that 
was sowed or planted, so that there was nothing left for us to 
harvest. I remember that the piece of land that I had sowed that 
spring was eaten close down to the earth, so that I could not have 
believed there had been any wheat there, if I had not sown it 
myself, and had seen the grain coming up in the spring. They 
stayed here that summer until they were full grown, then they 
took to their wings and left us for where I do not know. 

Miss Lottie Rossman, of Detroit, taught the first school in 
Cuba Township, beginning in 1877 and completing her second 
term in the summer of 1878. 



Martin Olson. 

Martin Olson was born near Trondhjem, Norway, in October, 
1839. After he had grown to manhood he followed the occupa- 
tion of sailor until the year 1866, when he came to America. He 
first settled in Alamakee County, Iowa, where he remained four 
years. In 1869 he was married to Christine Osberg. In the 
spring of 1870 they started for Becker County, with an ox team 
and on the nth day of June located on what is now the southeast 
quarter of Section 35 in the town of Cuba. The land was not 
surveyed at that time, so he could not know what land he was on 
until the next October. 



A PioNEiiR History of Becker County. 515 

On the /th day of May, 1871, a baby boy was born to them, and 
he was the first white boy born in the township. 

Mr. Olson remained on his farm, where he had erected good 
substantial buildings, until his health failed, when he sold his 
farm for a good price and moYcd to the village of Lake Park, 
which adjoins his farm. He still has two other farms which are 
rented out. 



Halvor M. Beaver. 

Halvor M. Beaver was born at Kongsberg, Norway, in June, 
1842. In 1865 he came to America, locating in Dodge County, 
Minnesota, where he remained for about five years. He came to 
Becker County on the nth of November, 1870, and took a home- 
stead on Section 34 in Cuba Township, and in the spring of 1871 
built a house on his place, and has resided there ever since. Mr. 
Beaver was married to Betsey E. Aaberg on the 21st of August, 
1875. Mrs. Beaver was a native of Urdal, Norway. His first 
crop of wheat was sown in 1872, and what promised to be a good 
crop at first was nearly all destroyed by blackbirds. In 1875 he 
planted his first trees, and has planted some around his house 
every year since, so that now he has a large grove around his 
buildings. Mr. Beaver's farm is provided with commodious build- 
ings, and he conducts his farm on the diversified plan. He keeps 
a large number of cows and other stock, and does not depend on 
raising grain altogether. In the early part of January, 1873, we 
had the worst blizzard in the history of the country, wdiich lasted 
for forty-eight hours. Stables were covered with snow in some 
places so that cattle could not be taken out or in, and had to be 
fed by cutting a hole through the roof. Water they did not get 
for three days. On the 9th of July, 1876, a swarm of grasshoppers 
came down by the million, and laid their eggs in immense numbers, 
which hatched out the next year and threatened to devour every- 
thing in the country. That year the hopper dozers were invented 
and came into use. They were long, scraper-like things, that 
were besmeared with coal tar on the inside. Beaver and his wife 
would pull this machine back and forth across the fields while 
the baby slept in the cradle near by. 





y, a. 
o S 



W J2 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 517 



Lars P. Laite. 

Lars P. Laite was born in Hafslo, Norway, August 2nd, 1874. 
When nine years of age he came to America with his mother, who 
was a widow at the time. After Hving at Stoughton, Wisconsin, 
for three years they moved to Freeborn County, Minnesota, where 
they Hved in the town of Bath until 1871. On the 27th of October, 

1870, he was married to Sophia Bergerson and in the spring of 
1 871 they came to Becker County, arriving in the town of Cuba 
on the 1 2th day of June. They came with oxen and a prairie 
schooner, and were three weeks on the road. 

The first white girl born in Cuba was a daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Laite. This little girl was born on the 24th day of August, 

1871, and her name is Caroline. She is now Mrs. Edward Jordahl, 
of the village of Lake Park. 



John Olson. 

John Olson came to Cuba Township in 1871, and took a home- 
stead on Section 12, and in 1875 began the erection of a grist- 
mill but for lack of capital it went slow. Finally after a few 
years his mill was so far advanced that he was able to make 
a little flour, which he continued to do for several years, but owing 
to frequent trouble with his dam and lack of capital he finally 
became discouraged, and in the year 1885 it broke up altogether. 
Mr. Olson has since moved out of the county. 



Thorville Hanson. 

Thorville Hanson was born in Hakkedalen, Norway, on the 
4th day of August, 1847. He lived at home until he had grown to 
manhood when he left his native land for America, arriving in 
Houston County, Minnesota, on the 26th of May, 1867 On the 
nth day of May. 1871. he came to the township of Cuba, in 
Becker County and located on the same quarter section where he 
now resides. He was not married at that time, but on the 28th day 
of June, 1872, he was married to Christine Halverson. She came 
to Cuba on the same date and took a pre-emption on Section 
26, adjoining Hanson's, and as soon as the government plat 




A. BAARSTAD. 



MRS. A. BAARSTAD. 




LARS LAR.SON. 



MRS. LARS LARSON. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 519 

of the township was received at the land office she proved up 
on her claim which gave them a fine farm of 320 acres including 
the whole of the south half of Section 26. I well remember the 
wedding day, as it was the first wedding in the township of Cuba. 
They were married by a traveling minister by the name of Manuel 
Hagebo. I think he was the first Scandinavian minister in this 
part of the country. The wedding was held in Mrs. Hanson's 
own cabin which was about ten by twelve feet. Right in the 
midst of the ceremony a great shower of rain came down. The 
roof of the house was made with a few rails for rafters, and these 
were covered with hay and sods of earth, and when the rain began 
to pour down it came through the roof and brought a large 
quantity of black soil with it, covering the table and also the 
groom and bride. They, however, got married in good shape and 
have stayed married ever since. They have since taken on more 
Cuba soil, and are now the largest land owners in the township. 



Lars Larson. 

Lars Larson was born in Sweden in the year 1850, and came 
to the United States in 1869. He lived two years in Eau Claire, 
Wisconsin, and in 1870 came to Clitheral, in Otter Tail County, 
Minnesota, and in March, 1871, came to Becker County and took 
a claim on Section 18, in Lake Park Township, where he lived for 
four years. Since that time he has lived on Section 29 in the 
township of Cuba. 

On the 22nd of December, 1875, Mr. Larson was married to 
Gertrude Pearson, who was born in Sweden and came to America 
about the same time as Mr. Larson. 



Ole Christenson. 

Ole Christenson was born in Norway on the 6th day of January, 
1850, and came to the United States in 1867. locating at La Crosse, 
Wisconsin, where he lived until May, 1871, when he started with 
an ox team for Becker County, Minnesota, and his mother who 
came with him took a homestead. Ole was not then old enough 
to hold a homestead himself, but his mother died a few years 
afterwards and he filed a homestead on the place himself, where 
he still resides in good circumstances. 



520 A PioNKKR History, of Becker County. 

have since raised a family of three girls a^? a ' ; ^Tl^l tZ 
have a fine farm in a high state of ct.ltivation. "^ 

Erick Anderson. 

isJ^f T'^"T T ^""^ '" Vermland, Sweden, Febr„ar>- 6th 
.845. In Jt,„e 1869, he left Christiana on a saih„<f vessel rndafte; 

and on the tl of oTT""/,' "'^ ^"'" '° ^^^^^ ^onn.v. 

Wilcox who h d ? °^ "'" -^'"' ''^S^'" *°'-'^ fo'- A. H. 

vvncox, who had jiist commenced surve^■in<^ the town.hin „f r k 

He rentained in the employ of Mr. Wilcoi trntilthe "t Ve L^: :' 

:t;,s:':.i':: r:ji:;ztt z^r '- -' .^""' ^^ 

C. Anderson ^' ^' ^^' "^^"''^^^ to Annie 

sh.X:i.^^„;:r::^::'-::rr:::rt::--rf'' 
;r;:ra:,ds."'^^^ ^°""'-- ™"- -"/o-^-;:::;;;.:'^;::: 

Peter E. Olson. 

a"e if f , f'™ '° "'' """<=<' States with his father at the 

KehlrStrntrMintTotr"'" "' """-■ '^"' ^^ -'^ ■" 

-~;?;:L:frn?i,:t'i;.^-^:- 
t:::;r :f :« "'Tf ^"' "r^™ ^-' -- - ctr/Tot,:':: 

severa vea'?. f ^i, takmg land on Section 36. He lived there for 
several years when he sold out and removed to Atlanta Town- 
Mr. Olson died on the 12th of July, 1895. 
Ole Halverson. 

the y':r"r^r:;:dTitt:;,::r::ri:a^cLT-w° '-- - 
.-.- .t had ri:::t.;::rto^:hr'e:r h!' tUt:* m 




OLE HALVERSON. 



ANDREW O. WEE. 




PETER E. OLESON. 



MRS. PETER E. OLESON. 



522 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

fathers when they came to Plymouth Rock in the year 1620. 
The steers and old wagon, however, carried them through all right, 
although Ole and the boy walked most of the way, and it took them 
about five w'eeks to make the trip. 

Mrs. Halverson died on the 31st day of July, 1872, 1)eing the 
first woman that died in Cuba Township. 

Mr. Halverson died on the 31st day of December, 1901. but 
the farm is now in the possession of Theodore Halverson who 
is one of the pioneers of Becker County, being only a boy when 
he came here. He was a little too young to take a homestead so 
he stayed at home with his father and helped on the farm. On 
May 20th, 1878, Theodore was married and they have raised a 
family of sons and one daughter all of whom are still living. 

The first summer the Halverson family lived in a tent, then 
they dug a hole in the side of a hill and made a roof of hay and 
sods. They had one small window in front, and in this way they 
lived for four years, when they built a log house. 

Theodore now has as fine a set of buildings, and as fine a farm 
as can be found in the country. 



Barney Olson. 
Barney Olson was born in Voss, Norway, in the year 1837, 
and came to America in the spring of 1867. After staying a year 
and a half in \\isconsin, he went to Freeborn County, ^Minnesota, 
where he w^as married to Brita Jerdahl. In the spring of 1871, 
he and his wife started for Becker County with a yoke of oxen 
and wagon, and on the 2C)th day of July settled on their homestead 
on the northeast quarter of Section 26, in the township of Cuba, 
where he has continued to reside ever since. They have a fine 
farm of 240 acres and have raised a family of nine children, who 
are all alive and in good health at the present day. Like most of 
the other settlers in the vicinity, Mr. Olson had his first crops de- 
stroyed by grasshoppers, and had to go away to work in order to 
support his family. Work was readily obtained on the M. E. 
d'Engelbroner farm, which was then just opening up and also on 
the Hawley farm which included three sections of land right in his 
neighborhood. 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 523 



Amund E. Baarstad. 

Amund E. Baarstad A^as born in northern Fron Gubbraus- 
dalen, Norway. December, 28th, 1831. He grew up on a farm in 
his native land and in 1857 he was married to Miss Maret Erland- 
son. In the spring of 1869 he and his wife came to America and 
settled in Vernon County, Wisconsin, and early in the summer 
of 1 87 1 came to Becker County, and on the 4th day of July settled 
on the northwest quarter of Section 26. of Cuba Township, where 
he is still living. Mrs. Baarstad died on the 30th ofMay, 1902, and 
was buried in the cemetery on their own farm. Mr. Baarstad has a 
fine farm and a fine grove of trees around his buildings. 



Andrew O. Wee, 
Andrew O. Wee was born at Flo, Hallingdal, Norway, and 
came to America in the spring of 1861. He lived for a while in 
Rice County, Minnesota, and then went to Houston County, and 
in August, 1864, enlisted in the Second Minnesota Regiment of 
Volunteers, and served with them until the end of the war. On the 
8th of April, 1866, he was married to Briget Evenson. They 
lived at Spring Grove for five years, when in the spring of 1871 
they came to Becker County and took a homestead on the south- 
west quarter of Section 4 in the town of Cuba. He lived on and 
cultivated this place for thirty-three years when he moved to the 
village of Lake Park, where he has ]:)uilt a fine residence. 



Peter R, Jacobson, 

Peter R. Jacobson was born in Helgeland, Norway, on the 
9th of August, 1844. He was married to Olava Pederson, who 
was born in 1842. In May, 1866, they started for America in a 
sailing vessel, and after a voyage of nine weeks they landed in 
Quebec, Canada, from which place they went to Farmington, 
Dakota County, Minnesota. They lived in this vicinity until 
the spring of 1871, when they started for the Northwest, intending 
to go to North Dakota. When they got to Fort Ambercrombie 
thev left their teams to look around over the Red River vallev. 



524 A Pione;er History of Becker County. 

Appearances indicated that the conntry about there was Hable to 
overflow, so they started for the rolling country to the northeast 
and finally came to the place where Audubon Village has since 
been built, where they camped for a while. After lookmg the 
country over for a week, they selected the southwest quarter of 
Section 10, in the Township of Cuba, on the 22d day of June, 
1871. They still live on this same land, hale and hearty, and have 
one of the best farms, and some of the best buildings in the coun- 
try. Their home is sheltered with a fine grove of timber, where 
snows and storms have no terrors for them. 



Hugh Sullivan. 

Hugh Sullivan w'as born in Houghton County, Alichigan, 
August 15th, 1850. As soon as he was old enough he went to 
work in the copper mines Where he remained until 1870, when he 
went to Duluth, and there remained one year, coming to Becker 
County in August, 1871. He settled on the southwest quarter of 
Section 30 where he still resides. 

He was married to Margaret Hogan on the 14th day of Feb- 
ruary, 1886. 

In addition to the settlers who came here in 1871, already men- 
tioned, there was Theodore Holton who located on Section 18. 
Otto Peterson and Andrew Thorson on Section 8, M. Carlson on 
Section 18, two John Sullivans on Section 20, Thomas Torgerson 
on Section 28, Alonzo Chase and Hugh Sullivan, Sr., on Section 
30; John Teg on Section t,2, and Tver Larson on Section 34. 

The following are also among the early settlers of Cuba, 
Torger Matson (now dead), Magnes Lindstrom, Andrew Hed- 
lund, John Sandgren, Tom Olson (now dead), Nels Peterson, 
John Peterson, Andrew Peterson. Charles M. Smith and Ole I. 
Olson. 



Hans J. Bakken. 

Mr. Bakken was born in Ringereke, Norway, December 26tli, 
1833. He was married to Christene Gulbranson of the same place 
on the i8th of June, 1855. In 1864 they came to St. Croix County, 
Wisconsin, where they lived nine years. In 1873 they came to 
Becker County and took up a homestead on the northeast quarter 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 525 

of Section 4 in the town of Erie, Cuba, where they are still living 
in easy circumstances. 



Ole O. Dokken. 

Ole O. Dokken was born at Ness, Hallingdal, Norway, on the 
27th of September, 1838. He worked on a farm in his native land 
until 1867 when he came to Winneshiek County, Iowa. In Novem- 
ber, 1870, he was married to Hilleborg Seim, and in May, 1871, 
they started on their journey to Becker County, with an ox team 
the same as all the settlers came to this country in those days. 
After about five weeks travel they arrived in Cuba and took a 
homestead on the southeast quarter of Section 4, where the 
family are still living. 

Mr. Dokken died on the 27th day of September, igoi. 



Ole Johnson. 

Ole Johnson was born in Skaam, Sweden, where he lived until 
he had grown to manhood, and in the spring of 1866 he came to 
the United States locating first at Red Wing, Goodhue County, 
Minnesota, where he lived for one year, then went to Denmark, 
Washington County, where he lived for three years and then in the 
spring of 1872 came to this township and took a homestead on the 
northwest quarter of Section 12. While in Goodhue County he 
was married to Elna Truls who was also a Swede. He is still 
living on his homestead, but has been in poor health for several 
years. 



Michael Ristvedt. 

Michael Ristvedt was born in Norway on the 27th of August, 
1847, 3-"d came to the United States in the spring of 1866. He lived 
for a while in Wisconsin, working in the lumber woods and on 
the log drives, and for the farmers in the summer. In the spring 
of 1872 he was married to Lina Potter, and three days after the 
wedding they started for Becker County, arriving in the township 
of Cuba. He afterwards took a homestead on the southwest 
quarter of Section 2, where he still resides. He has a fine farm 
with good buildings in the midst of a fine grove of timber. 

B. O. Bergerson. 



526 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



The Adelaide or M. E. d'Engelbroner Farm. 

About the 22d of May. 1872, I was directed by the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Company to go with M. E. d'Engelbroner and 
Paul Van Vlissingen. two men from Holland, and show them the 
land located between the White Earth Reservation and the Red 
River flats. They were looking" for land where they could open 
up wheat farms on a large scale. 

We left Oak Lake City in the morning and passed over the site 
of the present village of Audubon, and up across Hamden and 
Cuba to the south branch of the \Vild Rice. L. S. Cravath and 
Charles B. Plummer were with us on this trip. W^e found only 
one family at home during the day. The others had left their 
homes and gone to Oak Lake or Lake Park for fear of the Indians. 
We met one family going at a fast gait, the woman driving the 
horses, and the man carrying a broadaxe for a weapon. We tried 
to persuade them to go back home, telling them there was not a 
particle of danger, but they were afraid to go back. We, however, 
managed to borrow the broadaxe as we had no axe with us. We 
camped that night by a lake in the eastern part of Township 141, 
Range 44, in Clay County. There were two families there who 
had not heard of the Cook nnirder and they were all at home. 
Van Vlissingen was delighted with this location and afterwards 
opened up a big farm right there. The next morning we drove on 
west to the Red River flats, and from there started back in a 
southeast direction, and at night arrived at old John Sullivan's 
place on Section 20 in the town of Cuba. There was no one at 
home when we arrived, but we soon found the old man and his 
wife out in the brush where they had been hiding for fear of 
losing their scalps. We convinced them that it would be safe to 
stay in the house that night, at least when we were there, so the 
old lady helped to cook up some of our provisions and we carried 
some hay into the house and made beds on the floor and passed a 
very comfortable night. 

I had told my Holland friends for the start that I was going 
to show them the best location the last of all, so the next morning 
we drove down to Section 19 in Cuba looking over that and 
several other sections near by. d'Engelbroner was so well pleased 
with the land in that vicinity that he bought about 3,600 acres in 
Cuba and the adjoining towns and in a short time had them 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 527 

nearly all under the plow, with headquarters on Section 19. He 
carried on wheat raising on a large scale for several years, his 
land producing abundantly, but nearly every season the grass- 
hoppers would swoop down onto his fields just about the time 
the wheat began to fill and nearly ruin his crop. He fought 
bravely year after year against fate, but finally in 1877 had to 
give up the battle ; the same year the grasshoppers left the 
country. 

His land consisted of Section t,^ in Atlanta, Sections 5. ig and 
half of 20 in Cuba and 13 and 2t, in the town west of Cuba, in 
Clay County. 

On Section 19 in Cuba he erected a dwelling house, a boarding 
house and a commodious barn and granary, and gave employment 
to a large number of men, and the farm was a boon to the 
settlers in the vicinity during the grasshopper period. 

In addition to the grasshopper scourge d'Engelbroner was 
handicapped by v/ant of experience in farming and lack of general 
business ability. He was said to have been brought up as a page 
for some nobleman in the city of "The Hague," in Holland, and 
had too many aristocratic notions to become a successful farmer 
in America. None of the men in his employ liked him, and were 
inclined to "soldier" and shirk whenever the opportunity was 
oiYered. As an example of his want of perception in ordinary 
matters: in the spring of 1874 the mill dam at Richwood broke 
away in time of high water, by reason of which a flood deluged 
the bottom lands of the Buffalo River which crosses Section 19 
not far from where his farm buildings were located. Meeting him 
in Lake Park not long afterwards he wished me to ask some law- 
yer in Detroit "if that man what owns the mill at Richwood have 
any pusiness to let his tam brake loose and flood his pottom." 

In the spring of 1876 I surveyed and staked out in rectangular 
form all the sloughs and pond holes on his five sections of land, 
and while there I remarked that there would be a big auction 
there before many years, and in the spring of 1878 I held an 
auction there myself, selling property to the amount of over $90 
to pay his personal property taxes. The sheriff held another sale 
soon afterwards which wiped out all the personal propert}', and 
the real estate soon afterwards passed out of the hands of the 
company which he represented, and this proved to be the winding 
up of the aft'airs of the so-called "Adelaide Farm." 



528 A Pioni;er History of Becker County. 



Fletcher J. Hawley. 

PROPRIETOR OF THE HAWLEY FARM. 

Rev. Fletcher J. Hawley, D. D.. of Lake Park, was a lineal 
descendant of Captain Jehiel Hawley, the early settler and the 
founder of the town and church of x\rlington, Bennington County, 
Vt., where Dr. Hawley was born, Nov. 22nd, 1813. His early 
years were spent on his father's farm and in the common district 
school. He then entered the grammar school of Kenyon Col- 
lege, Gambler, Ohio, and afterwards Burr Seminary, Manchester, 
Vt., where he completed his preparatory course. Then, after 
a year or two at the Polytechnic Institute of Prof. Eaton, at 
Troy, N. Y., he entered Union College, Schenectady, graduating 
in July, 1840. In October of that year he entered the Theological 
Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church at New York, and 
graduated in June, 1843. He was ordained deacon in July, 1843, 
and priest in 1845. His application to study impaired his health 
so that he sought a milder climate, and accepted the rectorship 
of St. John's Church, Christianstad, Santa Cruz, West Indies— 
an island belonging to Denmark. Three-fourths of the popula- 
tion were negroes and were slaves. Religion and morals were 
at a low ebb. There was a small and quite inadequate church, 
which Mr. Hawley set about enlarging, in which work he had 
to be his own architect and use negroes for his working staff. 
He succeeded in erecting a church to accommodate over 1,200 
people. In conjunction with the Roman Catholic priest he did 
much towards quelling the insurrection of the slaves, which 
threatened to destroy everything on the island. The whites were 
powerless ; but these two priests held the slaves in check three 
days, until soldiers came from the island of St. Thomas. The 
king of Denmark then appointed Mr. Hawley head of the colo- 
nial council — the governing body — and special adviser to the 
governor general. Certain modifications of former relationship, 
proposed by Mr. Hawley, were adopted, and the slaves became 
comparatively free. He returned to the United States in June, 
1859. Soon after his return he was appointed to the charge of 
Trinity Church, New Orleans, where he arrived in December, 
1859. Such was his hold upon the people that, when the civil 
war broke out, he retained the confidence of all, although declar- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 529 

ing- his adherence to the Union. He kept church and parish 
united, and during the worst times, he worked without remunera- 
tion, until his means were quite exhausted and he had barely 
enough to sustain life. After the arrival of Gen. Butler he left 
for the North, and reached New York on Sept. 25th, 1862, to 
make a new start from amidst poverty and with impaired health. 
He was a while at Trinity Church, Chicago, then at Grace 
Church, Brooklyn, until 1864, when he went to Danbury, Conn., 
where he built a new stone church, and harmonized conflicting 
interests. He then went to Stafford Springs, Conn., where he 
did similar work. He acquired some land in Becker county, 
Minn., and through failing health was led to move to this state, 
settling over St. Paul's Church, Brainerd, on Sept. i6th, 1880. 
Here he devoted himself to his work, spending some time on his 
farm at Lake Park. A fall, and the loss of the use of his left 
leg, led him to remove with his family to his farm in December, 
I887, where he gradually sank until he passed to his rest on the 
25th day of March, 1891. 

Mrs. West. George W. Brownjohn. 



530 A Pioneer History" of Becker County. 



Chapter XXX. 

MY FIRST THREE YEARS IN BECKER COUNTY. 

In the summer of 1870, I received an appointment as deputy 
United States surveyor from the surveyor general of Minnesota 
with instructions to survey thirteen townships of land in the Red 
River country, four of which were in Wilkin County, two in Clay 
and seven in Becker County. I did not receive my final instructions 
until late in the summer and consequently found that I would not 
be able to complete the work before midwinter, so I decided to 
leave the Becker County townships, some of which were heavily 
timbered, for the last, and begin at the west end of my work. I 
accordingly began work on the Red River flats, in Wilkin County 
on the 1 6th of August, 1870, and finished in Clay County on the 
5th of October. There was not a settler in Wilkin County at that 
time except at McCauleyville, and a ferry across the Otter Tail 
River kept by a man named Merry. There were no settlers in 
Clay County, except at Georgetown and a stage station or two 
along the Red River, and eight or ten families in the eastern towns 
along the border of Becker County. 

The last township I surveyed in Clay County was the one in 
which Barnesville is now situated. It was only twelve miles from 
there across to Becker County, but I was obliged to go back to 
McCauleyville for supplies and from there we drove across the Red 
River flats and over to Pelican Rapids. We crossed Whiskey Creek 
soon after leaving McCauleyville on a narrow, rickety pole bridge, 
about ten feet high. Our ox teamster who had been accustomed 
to using the whole Red River valley for a highway, allowed his 
load to tumble ofif over the bridge, and the weight of the wagon 
pulled the oxen over on top of the load. There was about a foot 
of water and two feet of black mud in the creek, and down went 
sacks of flour and barrels of pork, sugar, cofifee, blankets, clothing 
and surveying instruments with the wagon on top, wheels up and the 
oxen on top of it all. It took us all the afternoon to get out of the 
muss and clean up and dry our outfit. At two difi^erent times, we 
were obliged to unload and carrv evervthing across sloughs, one 



♦NOTE — After the organization of the townships whose history has just 
been presented tliere were none organized for seven or eight years, so here 
wiU be a good place to introdvice a few miscellaneous articles. 



A ProNEijR History of Bf;cke;r County. 531 

pond on Section 8 in Lake Park Township, which was on land since 
owned by John Lie. I was anxious to hire more men, and as I 
could see a house three or four miles east of us in a grove of 
of which was nearly a fourth of a mile wide, before we reached 
Pelican Rapids. In consequence of these delays we were obliged 
to camp out on the prairie two nights more than we expected, 
and had to burn up an extra ox yoke and our tent poles for fuel. 
From Pelican Rapids we drove north up around the west end of 
Pelican Lake and from there in a northwesterly direction around 
the west end of Big Cormorant Lake. There was a dim wagon 
road up as far as Section 20 in the town of Cormorant. The first 
person we met after passing into Becker County was Mark Warren, 
an old fur trader, who was hunting for his horse. Soon afterwards 
we came to where a man by the name of Wm. McMartin was build- 
ing a log house on Section 21, I believe. Several of his neighbors 
were helping him. These were all the people we saw in the town- 
ship of Cormorant. From here there was no sign of a road until 
we came to Section 8, west of Big Cormorant Lake. Many times 
all hands had to hold onto the wagon to prevent it from tipping 
over, and some of the way we were obliged to cut a road through 
the timber. We finally found a dim road running north which 
brought us over a prairie and through brush to a beautiful little 
prairie which must be a part of the northwest quarter of Section 
5. This prairie was surrounded by brush and timber, and was 
such a contrast to the country on the Red River flats where we had 
been surveying, and where we did not see a bush or a tree for 
two months that the boys in the party began giving cheers for 
Becker County, and some of them wanted to take a homestead 
right there. 

My objective point was Township 140, Range 43, or what is 
now the township of Cuba, so we drove on with our ox team over 
a road that was gradually becoming better as we proceeded north 
until we came to where a man by the name of John P. Rud was 
building a log house on what is now Section 29 of Lake Park Town- 
ship, where we camped for the night. 

In the evening, a man came to our camp by the name of E. H. 
Nelson who was living a little west on Section 30. Two other 
men were also living on Section 30 at the time, Gus Jacobson 
and Erick Quam. The next morning we continued north over a 
oad road and about 10 o'clock made a halt at a small grove by a 



532 A Pioneer History of Beckkr County. 

timber I started to go to it. I do not think there was then a 
house on the prairie in Lake Park Township, aUhough there were 
quite a number scattered around among the groves, but they were 
pretty well hid from view. I worked my way along all right un- 
til I came to the middle of the big marsh in Section 1 1 of Lake 
Park and seeing no way around it to the north or to the south, 
I gave up the job and went back. The house I started for, I think, 
was where Hamilton Kelly has since lived, but was then occupied by 
Palmer Hall. When I reached my camp, I found two men there, 
Erick Anderson and his father, and I hired them. That afternoon 
we drove on north to the Buffalo River and camped in the grove 
of timber, since called Kittelson's Grove, on Section i6, town of 
Cuba. There was a hard frost that night, the first of the season. 
This was the 13th day of October, 1870, 

The next thing was to hunt up the township lines and find a 
starting point. I found that a random line between Cuba and 
Lake Park had been run and temporary corners set, but no corners 
were established. The next day, the 14th, was Sunday and about 
noon a man by the name of Bemer came from Howard's camp, 
the surveyor who had run the township lines, bringing the field 
notes of the town line with the correction for each corner. 

That same day, Chris E. Bjorge came to our camp and I 
hired him, and he proved to be a valuable assistant. A man by 
the name of Ole Kittelson had taken a claim which included a part 
of the grove where we camped. He had a dugout on the high bank 
of the Buffalo River which was made by digging a square hole 
in the face of the hill and building a low house over the hole. He 
had been at work on the Richwood milldam, but when he heard 
that the surveyors had come he started for home making a bee line 
across the country. He came on all right until he struck the big 
string of lakes and sloughs that stretches across the present town 
of Hamden, when trouble began. The water was much higher then 
than it is now since the ditch was dug. After wandering back and 
forth from the south to the north and from the north to the south 
without finding a way around, he finally plunged in where it appeared 
to be the narrowest and undertook to wade across, but soon got 
in above his depth and became tangled up in the wild rice and bull- 
rushes and was almost drowned, but finally pulled through more 
dead than alive and reached our camp away in the night. I hired 
him also. Cuba was then sprinkled over with sloughs and ponds 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 533 

and they were all full of water, so we had plenty of wading to do 
unless we resorted to the more tedious process of offsetting, and 
where the water was not more than two or three feet deep we 
preferred to wade. 

There were three settlers in the township of Cuba at this time. 
B. O. Bergerson was living in a comfortable log house on Section 
36. Martin Olson had a house built on Section 35, but there was 
no one residing there. He had gone below after his family and 
returned with them on the 21st of October. Ole Kittelson on 
Section 16, in addition to his dugout had a small patch of turnips. 
There was an old Red River cart trail which crossed the Buffalo 
River near the middle of the township and ran northwesterly across 
the country to some point on the Red River. Buffalo bones were 
abundant, especially near the Buffalo River on Sections 15 and 16, 
showing that Becker County had been a favorite summer resort 
for that animal. 

From our camp we could see a grove of timber directly east in 
the next township and on the 20th day of October, I ordered my 
camp moved to that grove which proved to be on Section 17. 

We worked north of the Buffalo River that day and finished 
surveying the town of Cuba, but did not get through until dark. 
We could see the fire at our new camp, over in what is now the 
township of Hamden and made as near a direct line towards the 
fire as the nature of the ground would permit. We got along al- 
right until within about 100 rods of the camp, when we came to 
a lake and we undertook to go around it by going north, but 
after going in that direction a quarter of a mile or so, we became 
discouraged and turned back to the south to find that end of the 
lake. After going in that direction for half a mile, we shouted 
to the men in the camp and inquired which way they went to get 
there. They said around the north end, so we went back north. 
We had not gone far, however, before Chris Bjorge said he be- 
lieved we could wade through the lake and immediately turned off 
and plunged into the water. We all concluded that we could 
wade it if he could, so we plunged in after him. The night was 
cold and icicles were forming on the bullrushes near the shore, 
and some of them were frozen together. We soon reached open 
water, where the water was up to our arms, but the bed of the lake 
was good and hard so we followed on after our leader and finally 
after wading a quater of a mile or more reached the camp in safety. 



534 -^ PioNEKR History of L>ecker County. 

We were soon inside dry clothes, none the worse for our bath. 
That night and the next morning, the 21st, it snowed hard, the snow 
remaining on the ground all day. The second evening after dark we 
noticed a big fire to the south of our camp about four miles away and 
we were at a loss to know what it meant as it was too wet for the 
prairie grass to burn, but we found out in a day or two that it was 
Gunder Carlson's haystacks burning just over the line on Section 6, 
in what is now Audubon Township. They were set on fire bv an 
Indian by the name of Bachinana just after dark, and as Carlson 
went out of his house to ascertain the cause of the fire, the Indian 
arose from behind the woodpile and fired at him with a charge of 
buckshot, giving him what proved to be a mortal wound. 

Hamden was worse than Cuba for sloughs and ponds ; they 
were all alive with ducks and geese, and sand-hill cranes were seen 
stalking about over the prairies or flying over head every day. and 
the sharp-tailed grouse or native prairie hens were abundant, es- 
pecially in the vicinity of the few small groves and patches of hazel- 
brush. 

There was not a settler then living within the limits of the 
present town of Hamden, although there were three small pieces 
of breaking, one on Section 31, belonging to Hans Ebeltoft, and 
another on Section 33, just west of the lake belonging to Lars O. 
Ramstad. Ramstad had a few haystacks and he was fighting a 
prairie fire that was raging when I ran the line between Sections 
32 and 33. With the e.xception of these improvements there was 
no sign or trace of civilization in the township, except the track of 
a wagon that had been driven around the north end of the lake 
on Section 26. 

After camping in the grove on Section 17 for about a week, 
we moved to a small grove between the two lakes on Section 34 and 
after remaining there for a day or two, we moved into Richwood 
early in November and camped in a small grove of timber by a 
large pond on Section 19, a short distance west of the old Red River 
road. This road was the main road to the White Earth Agency 
and the only road except the Leech Lake road. 

There were eight men living within the limits of the present 
town of Richwood at the time, four of whom had families. Hans 
Hanson was living with his wife and one child in a log house on 
Section 20. Iver Christenson was living with his family on Sec- 
tion 29. 



A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 535 

Iver Evenson with his family were on the southeast quarter 
of Section 29, and Gabriel Halverson and family were on Section 
21. Hugh Campbell was living on Section 28 on the place since 
occupied by Hans Sail, and William Harding lived on Section 29 
on the west side of the lake near the quarter section corner be- 
tween Sections 29 and 32. There was a house on Section 33 
built by a man named George Van \'alkenburg on the west side of 
the creek about a quarter of a mile south of the section line, but 
there was no one living there at the time. He came on the next 
spring with his family, a squaw and several half-breed children. 
The place was since owned and occupied by Mickel Mickelson. 

Ole Qualey was living somewhere in the town, as I saw him 
that fall twice, but he was not yet of age and could not take a 
homestead. A man by the name of A. J. Haney was building a mill- 
dam where the Richwood mill is now. Gus. Lundine had his name 
written on the section stake on the town line at the southwest 
corner of Section 32, but I saw nothing of him or any of his im- 
provements that fall. 

There was any amount of water in Richwood then and ice 
began to form in the sloughs and ponds before we had finished 
the survey of the towship. It was bad enough to wade in cold 
water at any time, but when the ice was just strong enough to break 
and let you through at every step it was tough enough. When the 
survey of the township was made, the west end of Buffalo Lake 
was about half a mile east of where Richwood Mills now stand 
and quite a little distance east of the line between Sections i and 2. 
Where the west end of Buffalo Lake is now there was a fine dry 
meadow with the Buffalo River, a fine clear stream of water, 
running through the middle. 

Haney was there at work on the mill-dam and he was some- 
what uneasy lest he should have trouble on his hands at some 
future time as the result of overflowing so much land and he 
wanted to know if there was not some way in which I could help 
him. So when I came to meander the lake, I ran the meander 
lines well up on the face of the low bluff's or hills bordering 
on the meadow and away around down by his mill-pond, and 
made the meander lines fit the future outline of the lake so com- 
pletely that when the water was raised by the dam no one would 
ever have known but that the lake had always been up to its present 
level. 



536 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Deer were very plentiful in the timbered portions of Rich- 
wood when winter set in, but they soon afterwards left for the 
pine forests farther east, and we did not see a deer, and but very 
few of their tracks after leaving that township. In the middle 
of Richwood the timbered forests began and it was nearly a month 
before the marshes were frozen sufficiently hard to bear a team ; 
so we were obliged to cut miles of road. This was done by Chris 
Bjorge, afterwards the Lake Park banker. We started in from the 
prairie at Gabriel Halverson's house on Section 21, and cut around 
the north side of the lake on Section 22, then built a bridge across 
the inlet to that lake near the line between Sections 22 and 23 at 
the only place where the marsh along the creek was narrow enough 
to build a bridge. This bridge was built at the same place where 
the little bridge now stands on the road from Detroit to Richwood 
village. The road ran from there east to the southwest corner 
of Rock Lake in Section 29, where we made our next camp. After 
remaining here for a few days we moved around to the north side 
of the lake on Section 27, as near the center of the town as we 
could get. When we moved into this township, which is now 
Holmesville, winter had set in earnestly, but was not severe until 
Christmas. We were living in a tent doing our cooking and warm- 
ing ourselves by a fire outside until about the middle of December. 
We had heard before that there was a store near Oak Lake, so we 
sent our team there for some supplies and among other things 
it brought a little sheet iron heating stove which added very much 
to our comfort the remainder of the winter. This store, the first 
opened in Becker County, was owned by a man named Sterling 
and was located on Section 7 in the town of Detroit on the west 
shore of the lake. The building was owned by L. D. Sperry, who 
afterwards sold the land on which it stood to Byron Wheeler 
who lived there several years. The advance of winter brought 
with it many new and interesting features. Every morning for 
a couple of weeks the roaring of the ice as it was forming on the 
lakes in the vicinity was novel and strange, not one of us having 
ever heard anything of the kind before. It did not take long for 
the ice to get strong enough for us to walk upon it, which was 
a great convenience in running lines through a country so thickly 
dotted with lakes and ponds. The ice on Rock Lake, at first thin 
and elastic, was very transparent and in places multitudes of fish 
could be seen through the ice and frequently where the water was 



A Pione;e;r History of Becke;r County. 537 

shallow the men would strike the ice with an ax or hatchet over 
some big wall-eyed pike or perch which stunned the fish so that 
they would turn belly up and be easily taken through a hole cut 
in the ice. 

One evening as we returned to camp from Tamarack Lake 
and while traveling on the frozen surface of the Buffalo River, 
one of my men, Daniels by name, fell through the ice up to his 
armpits. We soon fished him out and as he began to take off his 
wet clothes in the tent a short time afterwards he felt something 
squirm in his pants' pocket, upon which he jerked out a live 
perch seven or eight inches long, which had taken refuge there 
when he went through the ice. 

There was a flock of about one hundred grouse or native prairie 
hens around the borders of the lake on Section 27, where we 
camped, that had gathered in from the prairies at the beginning 
of winter. They were very tame, as we had no firearms, and 
did not molest them and the longer we remained the tamer they 
grew. 

Before winter set in we expected to have trouble in obtaining 
food for our oxen as there was no hay in the vicinity, but the 
borders of nearly all the lakes in the woods were lined with ever- 
green or scouring rushes, and we soon found that our cattle could 
live on them and keep in as good order as if they had hay. They 
have been nearly exterminated since. 

I did not run many of the section lines in the town of Holmes- 
ville as I went down to Sherman's at Oak Lake about the loth 
of December and was there a week or two writing up field notes, 
and Albert Daniels ran the compass during my absence. While 
I was at Sherman's, S. B. Pinney rented a log building of Sherman 
in which to store some goods and groceries. He had a contract 
for getting out the ties for the Northern Pacific road in Becker 
County. He brought with him a sleek looking young man by the 
name of Ole A. Boe to take charge of the supplies. It was not 
many days before the store house opened out as a full-fledged 
store. 

There was no one living within the limits of the present town 
of Holmesville at that time, but early in the spring of 1871, Swan 
Olund located on the southwest quarter of Section 6, and is clearly 
the first settler in the township. 



538 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

Chris Bjorge had cut a road around by the north shore of 
Cotton Lake and the south shore of Tamarack Lake. The swamps 
were not yet frozen hard enough to bear up a team and we could 
go no farther north without crossing a swamp, so all of Grand 
Park was surveyed from our camp on the east shore of Pine Lake. 

We began work in the southeast corner of the township where 
the surveys of all the townships are supposed to commence, and 
as our camp was within a mile and a half of the west boundary 
it took nearly half of our time to go to and from our work. We 
generally ran lines all day long and as late in the evening as we 
could see to read the figures on the compass, usually getting farther 
away from camp all the time, and when it was too dark to survey 
any more we would start for camp, frequently having to travel 
four or five miles in the dark taking a good many chances of 
missing our way and all sleeping out in the woods or breaking 
into some treacherous spring hole, or walking into some air-hole 
in the ice, but we always found our way to the camp without 
serious accident. On the day after Christmas the weather turned 
intensely cold and remained so for ten days. The mercury must 
have been 30° to 45° below zero every day during that time. I ran 
the meander lines around Height of Land Lake during that spell 
of cold weather and one of my men froze his feet so badly that 
he had to stay in camp for a whole week. Every day some of us 
would freeze our faces and the nights were too cold for us to 
sleep comfortably in a tent. Frequently in the night someone 
would get up and build a fire and warm up a little, but I always got 
up and ate a lot of pork and beans when I was cold and went 
back to bed and let the fire go, finding that would warm me up 
better and more permanently than to sit around a fire on an empty 
stomach. A day or two before New Year's Day, I came near losing 
a man by the name of Shira. I had been running lines in the 
northwest part of the township and at dark came to Tamarack 
Lake on Section 18 a little south of where the Dahl family has. 
since lived for several years. We here struck across Tamarack 
Lake and traveled southwest across the bay on the ice around 
the point of land that projects out into the lake at the corner of 
Sections 13, 24, 18 and 19 and then followed the east shore to 
where the line between Sections 19 and 30 intersect the lake. Here 
we were about to leave the lake and follow the section line east 
through the woods to camp, when we discovered that Shira was 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 539 

missing. He was subject to epilepsy and as it was 40° below zero 
and a blizzard raging I became alarmed for his safety. I sent 
the other men on to the camp and went back to look for him. In 
doing so I was obliged to face a gale from the northwest and it 
was not long before my cheeks were frozen so hard that I could 
not shut my eyes. This was not the first time in my life, however, 
that this had happened, so I was not alarmed, but kept on around 
the point and back to where we left Shira, a distance of at least 
two and a half miles. I there found by his tracks that he had 
started through the woods in the direction of the camp preferring 
to tear through the brush and timber and take his chances on 
getting lost, than to face the storm on the lake. I did not attempt 
to follow him, but went back by the way of the lake. When I 
reached the camp, Shira was there, but he had run a narrow risk 
of freezing to death as he had broken through into some springs 
and got wet and also got lost afterwards, but as good luck favored' 
him, he ran across two of my other men who had been out cor- 
recting lines, and they brought him into camp badly frozen. That 
winter there was a large flock of grouse around the west shore 
of Height of Land Lake. They were seen feeding generally on 
the buds of the white birch. Partridges were also quite plentiful. 
There were a number of ravens about Height of Land Lake and 
I think there has been a few there ever since. There were not 
as many wild animals in the woods as there has been since. There 
were a few rabbits, and foxes were abundant ; in fact far more 
numerous than now. They were nearly all poisoned off years 
ago, while wolves are much more plentiful now than they were 
then. The Otter Tail River, which flows through this township 
and particularly both where it enters and where it leaves Height 
of Land Lake, was then a favorite resort of the Indians. There 
was a large cornfield near the inlet on the east side of the river 
and several graves on the brow of the hill fronting the river 
opposite where Charles Mitchell now lives. There was a camp 
of Indians half a mile below the outlet where they had a fish 
trap across the river and they were catching more fish than they 
could use. There was also a large burying ground, a little east 
of the outlet on the little prairie by the lake near the Indian mounds. 
A day or two after New Year's we moved south into Township 
139, Range 40, or what is now the town of Erie. From near 
the south end of Tamarack Lake, we cut a road southwesterly 



540 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

across Section 31 of Grand Park, Sections i, 2, 13, 14 and 23 
of Erie crossing the Otter Tail at the present crossing at the foot 
of the rapids below the Hubbell dam thence along down east of 
the river until we intersected the ravine that extends down to 
the river where the county bridge now stands. We turned away 
down this ravine and camped in the thicket of fir balsams where 
the east end of the county bridge is now. The next day we com- 
menced the survey of the town of Erie. The second day I started 
to run the line between Sections 12 and 13 from west to east. At 
about fifteen chains we intersected the Otter Tail River at about 
the middle of the rapids, below where the Hubbell dam is now. 

Usually about the first thing our cook would do after setting 
up in a new camp was to dig a bean hole ; as we had no cook 
stove we baked our bread before an open fire in a tin reflector 
and baked our beans in a hole dug in the ground. A fire was 
built in the hole something after the plan of heating an old 
fashioned brick oven. After the ground was made good and hot, 
the bean kettle was lowered into the hole and the hole covered 
over tight and the beans left in to bake. At this camp our cook 
who was a little Englishman named Wignel Gott from Elizabeth- 
town in Otter Tail County, had dug his customary bean hole and 
baked an oversupply on the first day, and before we could eat 
them all up, a quantity of them soured on his hands. Sour beans 
are bad enough in warm weather, but with the thermometer at 30 
below. One dose was enough, so the whole camp struck on eating 
them. The next day several Indians came down from the fish 
trap with fish to sell and the cook was not long in striking up a 
trade, exchanging a part of his baked beans for fish. He was 
very much elated at what he considered his shrewd bargain, but 
the next day the Indians came back with blood in their eyes. 
The cook who was entirely alone on both occasions was accused 
by the Indians of trying to poison them and they demanded in- 
demnity for being driven out into the snow during the small 
hours of the night. Any one who has ever eaten sour beans can 
appreciate the situation. The Indians then commenced a sort of 
war dance around the Englishman, which was accompanied with 
a flourish of knives and guns around his head and an occasional 
war-whoop, during which time the poor fellow was frightened 
nearly to death. After an hour or so, they began to calm down 
and the cook began to recover his senses and the matter was 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 541 

finally compromised by giving the Indians the balance of sour 
beans. 

I started across on the ice with the head chainman at my 
heels and when about half way over, the ice gave way and we 
both went into the water to our waists. We were not long, how- 
ever, in crawling out. The day was extremely cold, 30 below 
zero, at least, so that put an end to running lines that day. We 
all struck ofif down the river on the ice and were not long in mak- 
ing the two miles to the camp. 

The morning after our misfortune in crossing the rapids, we 
went back and continued our line across the river without further 
accident. We had now been running lines for four months and 
a half, and during all the time we had been looking out for the 
Northern Pacific Railroad as we knew it was to be located some- 
where in this part of the county ; and immediately after crossing 
the river we were delighted to find one of their surveyed lines. 
Several of my men were for taking homesteads right there and 
then. They considered themselves the most fortunate beings 
that had ever been born. Here was the railroad, and here was a 
magnificent water-power. There would certainly be a station 
here, around which a city would grow up right in the center of 
Becker County and it would assuredly become the county seat. 
After looking around a little longer they came to a tree with the 
bark hewed off on one side on which was written, "taken with 
Sioux half-breed Script," and signed George B. Wright. Thus 
the fond hopes of the boys and their visions of wealth came to 
naught. The railroad was not built there and the finest water 
power in Northwestern Minnesota, except perhaps Fergus Falls, 
is still idle. This was the first place where we had seen any sign 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

The large island in Cotton Lake was at that time one of the 
most beautiful and attractive natural parks in Becker County. It 
was alive with partridges. 

In the top of an old oak tree there was the nest of an eagle, 
and that nest was since occupied each season by what is supposed 
to be the same pair of eagles, for more than thirty years ; the tree 
was blown down in 1901. About the 9th of January, I ran the 
line between Sections 31 and 32 in Erie Township which took me 
over the summit of Detroit Mountain. From the top of it I ob- 
tained my first view of the Detroit prairie and Detroit Lake. I 



542 A Pioneer Historv of Becker County. 

had a telescope on my surveying instrument, so I spent several 
minutes in looking in that direction. I could see the Tyler House, 
the Fox house on the hill and another log house a little farther 
to the right, which I suppose was where Judge Rossman then 
held forth. These were all the signs of civilization to be seen 
where the city now stands. A\'e were undoubtedly the first 
white men to ascend Detroit ^^lountain. 

By the loth of January, my road engineer had completed a 
road from where we were camped on the Otter Tail River to the 
center of the Township 139, Range 39, or what is now Height of 
Land Township, and we moved our camp to a small pond on the 
land since owned by Louis Golke. This road was cut out very 
near where the Detroit and Shell prairie county road runs at 
present. In fact all my survey roads were the only roads used 
by the early settlers of those timbered towns for many years, and 
many of them are used today right where I cut them out thirt}'- 
six years ago. 

We surveyed the whole township from this camp, and as the 
days were very short, we utilized about all the hours of daylight 
in running lines and traveled to and froiu our work in the dark, 
generally making a bee line for the camp as soon as daylight 
was gone. So accustomed was I to the woods that I could al- 
ways make my way to almost any point in whatever direction it 
might be by night or by day without using the compass or hav- 
ing the sun or stars for a guide. I have been in the woods more 
or less ever since I was ten years old, and never was lost for a 
minute, and it always seems strange to hear anyone talk about 
getting lost in the woods or on the prairie. 

Nothing of particular interest occurred while surveying this 
town, except an occasional visit from some of our red brethren. 
One evening when we were all in our tent, an Indian came who 
could talk fairly good English and announced himself as a good 
Indian. He said there were thirty of them at the fish-trap and 
they were going to have a dance the next night, but that they 
had nothing but water to drink, and he was afraid things would 
go rather slow ; so he came to see if I would sell him a pound of 
coffee, adding that he had no money, but he knew where there 
was a mink which he was going to kill in a day or two, and then 
he would pay. I accordingly let him have the coffee. He said 
that he had had no supper, so we fed him and he went to bed. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 543 

He ate breakfast next morning, and left. The second day after- 
wards, he came back with a mink just killed. He skinned the 
mink, stayed all night again, had supper and breakfast and then 
proposed to pay for his coffee with the mink skin. I supposed he 
intended to give me the skin and was a little surprised when he 
wanted $4 in cash for the difference. He went away, but came 
back after awhile with another mink, stayed all night and had 
supper and breakfast again and when he came to leave, he an- 
nounced that the dance at the fish-trap had not come off yet and 
he would like to buy another pound of coffee, "If I was not 
objections." This time I was objections. 

There was not a single settler in Height of Land, Erie, Grand 
Park or Holmesville at this time. AVe finished our survey on the 
19th of January, 1871. 

In Nov., 1870, I had selected the northwest quarter of Section 
6, in what is now the town of Detroit for a homestead, so I took 
my team, wagon and camp outfit over there, and set up my tent 
and built a log house before I went below. I also discharged my 
men at this place, three of them going to St. Paul, and three to 
Elizabethtown in Otter Tail County. Erick Anderson and his 
father Andrew X'elson stayed and helped me to build my house. 
Erick afterwards settled on Section 32, in the town of Cuba and 
has lived there ever since. He was elected judge of probate 
in 1874, and held the otBce four years. His father settled in the 
town of Eglon, Clay County. Chris E. Bjorge went back to the 
west part of the county, and as he was not old enough to take 
a homestead bought some railroad land. He had not been in 
the country long, but had acquired a fair command of the English 
language. He had had an adventure with a sand-hill crane and 
the other men were never tired of hearing him relate the story. 
He had winged the l)ird with a shot from an old musket and w'ent 
to pick him up, when the crane showed fight, rushing at Chris 
with spread wings and open mouth. He had no time to reload, 
so he concluded to retreat to some safe place where he could 
reload and then open the fight again. The crane followed him, 
keeping close to his heels, and every time Chris looked over his 
shoulders the crane was right there taking "awful steps." Final- 
ly he concluded that it was too cowardly to run from a bird, so 
he stopped and "struck the crane right in the face," with the 
gun, which finished the fight. 





A. H. WILCOX. 



I.F.STKR C. MCKINSTRY. 





MRS. A. H. WILCOX. 



MRS. C. P. WII.COX. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 545 

After coming out of the woods, it did not take us long- to find 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. There were about forty men at 
work at the Oak Lake cut, Imt it was not located beyond there 
until the next summer. \\y the loth of February, I had my 
house finished all but the roof and then started for St. Paul, 
not having slept in a house for more than six months. There 
was a team going to St. Cloud, which at that time was the near- 
est point on the railroad, so I rode all the way in an open sleigh 
and a long cold ride it was. This team belonged to W. W. 
AIcLeod. 

There were lively times in the Detroit woods that winter, 
clearing right of way, grading in the deep cuts and making ties 
in the woods for the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

I came back to Becker County in April and brought Mrs. Wil- 
cox with me. My brother, C. P. Wilcox and his wife came that 
same season. This time we came by way of Benson which was the 
end of the main line of the Great Northern Railway. From there 
we came by stage to Otter Tail City. With us in the stage were 
two men who were going to northwestern Minnesota, but had no 
particular place in view, and we pursuaded them to go to Becker 
County with us. Their names were Alonzo Fogg and John Dis- 
pennett and they both settled in the town of Lake Eunice. 

Otter Tail City was then a thriving village. Old Donald Mc- 
Donald a relic of the Hudson Bay Company was there, still buying 
furs of the Indians. He was a grotesque looking figure, then nearly 
eighty years of age, and dressed in a costume half nabob and half 
Indian, with a high fur hat, military coat, leggings and moccasins ; 
he was suggestive of Washington Irving's high military officer at 
the top, and ragged Indian at the bottom. After visiting a store 
or two 1 went into one which was run by a pleasant, good looking 
young fellow with a very winning way by the name of E. G. Holmes. 
Of him I bought a window, a cooking stove, a wash tub, and a lot 
more goods, enough in all to make a wagon load to take home with 
us. As a proof of the fact that any and every one who ever deals 
with Holmes gets the worth of their money, I will state that that 
cook stove lasted thirteen years and the wash tub twenty-five years. 
On the i6th, we proceeded to the third crossing of the Otter Tail 
River, near where Frazee is now, where we stayed all night at 
the \\' eymouth Hotel, which stood on the hill on the south side of 
the river not far from where the late Mr. Martin resided. This 



546 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

house had been opened up since I went below in February and 
was doing a rushing business. This was Mrs. Wilcox's first night 
in Becker County. The house was filled with railroad men and 
homeseekers and the beds were all full. At first it looked as though 
we would both have to stand up in a corner all night, but finally 
Mrs. Weymouth, true to that generous good nature of hers, came 
to our relief and gave us her bed. The next day we drove up 
through the Detroit woods along the old Red River road, and where 
the club house is now, there had never been any road cut out, 
so we were obliged to drive along the gravel shore of Detroit 
Lake for about half a mile. Farther on the Indians were making 
maple sugar, and had hundreds of trees tapped. There was a 
large camp near the road where they were boiling sap. 

We stopped at the Tyler Hotel for dinner and here for the 
first time 1 met J. O. Crummet and Swan Olund. We reached our 
homestead on the i8th of April. There were several inches of 
snow on the ground at that time. As our house was not finished, 
we lived in our tent for a month. 

About the 25th of April, L. C. McKinstry arrived and stayed 
with us for a while. M. H. Davis, Mrs. Wilcox's nephew had 
arrived a short time before. 

One evening about the last of the month, two young Swedes 
asked to be kept all night and the next day they both took home- 
steads next to mine. One of them was Frank A. Johnson, who 
has for many years been section foreman for the Northern Pacific 
Railroad at Frazee. 

The native prairie hen or sharp-tailed grouse was very plenti- 
ful around our house that spring. The regular prairie chicken 
or pinnated grouse with the yellow legs was not known in the 
county then, but began to arrive a few at a time three or four 
years later. Wild pigeons were quite plentiful ; I shot three one 
morning before breakfast as they were flying over our house. 

As there were no settlers with families in the vicinity, I ex- 
changed my homestead for the southeast cjuarter of Section 8, 
and built a new house near the north end of Oak Lake. Nels 
Lofstrom has for many years lived on the place where I first 
settled. Our neighbors at Oak Lake were L. D. Sperry and the 
Sherman family. We were unable to procure any lumber that 
summer at any price, so we were obliged to live on the bare ground 
floor with a cross cut saw and a blanket for a door until the 



A Pioneer History ok Becker County. 547 

next October, About the 25th of May, I made a trip to Section 
two of Lake Park and made a survey of the south half of that 
section for OHver Taylor and John Johnson. This was my first 
job of private surveying in Becker County. I made the trip on 
foot and on my way home I overtook Erick P. Skaiem loaded 
down with about twenty big suckers. He was barefoot and armed 
with a big fish-spear and appeared to be very enthusiastic over 
his and the future prospects of the country in general. He had 
just become of age and was unmarried. On the last day of ]\Iay 
I started with an ox team for Morris, in Stevens County to begin 
the survey of a state road running from that place to the White 
Earth Agency, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. On 
my way down I met George Jepson and two others going to Detroit 
for the first time. Nothing of particular interest occurred during 
the progress of this survey. We reached Fergus Falls, with our 
survey about the 12th of June, a place of forty houses. On 
reaching Elizabethtown I made a stop of two or three days and 
surveyed out the townsite of that village, eighty acres in extent. 
When we reached Pelican Rapids there were only three or four 
houses there and no townsite had been laid out. After finishing 
the state road, I rode a mule all the way back to Pelican Rapids, 
carrying my compass and chain on the saddle to survey out the 
town, but when I arrived there I found the proprietor, a man 
by the name of Tuttle, was in St. Paul in jail for selling whisky 
to the Indians. So I had my trip for nothing. This same Tuttle 
is said to be the inventor of the lightning drag tooth cross-cut 
saw. 

Our road was surveyed around the west end of Pelican Lake 
to Peabody's old place in Otter Tail County, where we stopped for 
a day or two to explore the country in the south part of Lake 
Eunice as it w'as a difficult territory to locate a road through on 
account of the numerous lakes. While thus employed I took a 
stroll over into Section 35 in what is now Cormorant Township. 
Here I found a man l)y the name of Cornish, building a mill-dam 
across Spring Creek, a small stream five or six feet wide near the 
county line. He said he was going to build a sawmill and a grist- 
mill. I thought at first he was joking and laughed at the idea 
of building mills on a little brook like that. I asked him where 
he was going to get water enough to run mills like them, as there 
was not then water enoueh in the creek to run one mill two 



548 A Pioneer History of Becker County, 

months in the year. He replied that he was going to tap Lake 
Ida and had already started a ditch for that purpose. He took 
me up to see his ditch and while looking at that beautiful lake, 
he called my attention to the amount of water it would supply. 
I asked him what he would do when Lake Ida was run down so 
low that it would not yield a sufficient supply. He said it would 
not run down, but if it did there were seven feet of water in 
Big Cormorant Lake that would last forever as it was fed by 
springs that would never fail. I told him that in a few years 
he would run both lakes down and they would never fill again 
and that would be the end of his water-power. He built his 
dam and the mills were built. The water in the lakes were run 
down, and everybody in the southwestern part of Becker County 
knows the result. 

In the fall of 1875 there was a thriving little village at Spring 
Creek. There was a sawmill, a grist-mill and a store or two, 
but where are they now and where is the water-power? Here 
for the first time I met L. G. Stevenson and the IMcDonalds. 
Stevenson was having trouble with the IMcDonalds about land. 
We ran the road around the east side of Lake Eunice where 
for the first time I met John McClelland walking on his wooden 
feet, and Warren Horton. We ran on and crossed over into 
Lake View where we ran the road along the west shore of Lake 
Sally. Here we found the two McDonoughs, William and Edward 
and succeeded in locating the road to their satisfaction. On the 
west shore of the next lake on Section 7 we found a camp con- 
sisting of several families of settlers who had taken land in the 
vicinity, but did not have their houses completed. 

David Mix with a numerous family was occupying one tent. 
Sylvester Moore and family were living in another, and a man 
by the name of Stephen Woodworth was living with his wife in 
another. I had known Woodworth in New York where we were 
boys together. The next morning T. J. Martin appeared upon 
the scene, which was the first time I had ever seen him. We 
could not locate the road to suit them all, so we ran it up straight 
through the middle of Section 6, and then bore oft' westerly 
crossing the Northern Pacific Railroad a little west of the Oak 
Lake cut. Here was a village of about four hundred people, 
mostly living in cloth houses although there were several good 
log buildings. They were very enthusiastic about the future 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 549 

of their town. About the loth of July I saw the beginning of 
what for the next seven years proved to be the scourge of Becker 
County, large numbers of the army grasshoppers. Our road 
was located through Richwood very near where the prairie road 
from Detroit to White Earth runs now. The only Becker Coun- 
ty man who helped me to survey this road was Robert Fair- 
banks of White Earth, who was one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to locate the road by the governor of the state. At 
White Earth I found my brother, C. P. Wilcox building a school- 
house. 

On the 2nd day of August, Oak Lake and the vicinity were 
visited by a violent tornado. Just before dark an Indian by 
the name of John Sloan asked permission to stay at our house 
over night as he said there was a bad storm coming and he did 
not feel safe to sleep out in the woods. About ten o'clock it 
began to rain and blow from the west. It was the hardest storm 
while it lasted I have ever experienced. It soon became almost 
as light as day from the continuous and intermingling flashes 
of lightning. Although my house was standing in a thick grove 
of oak timber not a tree could be seen standing anywhere in the 
vicinity. They were all either broken off or bent nearly to the 
ground. I supposed at the time that every tree was destroyed. 
The storm lasted for half an hour and after it abated I was happi- 
ly surprised to find that about two-thirds of my trees had sur- 
vived and straightened up ; the other one-third had been broken 
off. The water was blown out of Oak Lake and high up onto the 
east shore. I had two haystacks standing several feet higher 
than the lake, and they were soaked from the ground up as 
high as my head, while above that the hay was dry. The storm, 
however, was quite local in its character as it did not even blow 
hard at Detroit. My youngest brother, H. H. Wilcox had arrived 
from the state of New York just before the storm. 

The 20th of August, I was appointed by the Northern Pacific 
Railroad Company as one of its land appraisers. As every 
old settler knows the Northern Pacific Railroad Company obtained 
an immense gift of land from the United States government, 
amounting in Minnesota to every alternate section of land for 
a width of twenty miles on each side of the railroad track and 
forty miles in width on each side in the territories. They had 
that summer commenced the examination and appraisement of 



DO^ 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



their lands in IMinnesota. None but competent surveyors were 
employed and their duties were to examine each section by it- 
self running- the lines around and looking" over each forty-acre 
tract and making a diagram of the whole showing the lakes 
ponds, marshes, swamps, meadows, groves of timber, prairies and 
so forth, and then placing on each forty acres a number repre- 
senting its relative value, numbers i, 2, 3, 4, 5. Number i of course 
being the best, and number 5 nearly worthless. We always went 
singly and alone, running our lines with a small compass placed 
on a Jacob's-staff and counting out footsteps by way of measure- 
ment. After a little practice we were able to get this stepping 
business down to a fine art, seldom varying more than a rod in 
a distance of a mile, and even in the thickest woods and brush 
over logs and up and down steep hills by making a little allow- 
ance, we were able to come out at the established corners with 
a surprising degree of accuracy. 

My first work was in what is now the town of Cuba right 
where I commenced surveying for the government in Becker 
County the year before. A wonderful change had come over 
the town in that space of time. In place of only three settlers 
nearly every quarter section of government land was taken up. 

Among other settlers John Sullivan and his son-in-law, 
whose name was also John Sullivan, lived on Section 20, and 
Hugh Sullivan lived on Section 30, three natives of Old Ireland. 
Ole Kittelson was once asked if there were any Americans at all 
in Cuba and he replied, "That there were only three and they 
were all Irish." 

I had only one associate in this work and that was William 
W. Howard who the year before had run the town lines in the 
western half of Becker County and subdivided Lake Park, 
Audubon, Lakeview, and Burlington. 

We finished our work in Cuba early in September and began 
in Lake Park. The first Section I examined was Section 3 where 
Lake Park now stands. There was not a house on the whole sec- 
tion, although Jonas Erickson had pre-empted the northeast cor- 
ner fraction. The railroad had been staked out and some men 
were setting up tents getting ready to commence grading. The 
contractor who did the grading where the village now stands was 
an old Scotchman by the name of James McCoy an old acquaint- 
ance of mine. We had railroaded together in Pennsylvania in 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 551 

1865. On the 27th of July, 1872, when running into Detroit with 
a crew of men on a hand car he was run over by a train up in 
the Tamarack swamp, half a mile east of Detroit. The hand 
car was knocked off the track and McCoy was crippled for life. 
The railroad company afterwards built him a little house at the 
east end of the railroad bridge on the banks of the Crow Wing 
River near Alotley, and kept him watching the bridges for several 
years. Sometime about 1877 he was found lying on the ground 
dead near his house. 

()ne Saturday afternoon, which was the 9th day of Septem- 
ber, 1871. I happened to be home at Oak Lake. About three 
o'clock, I noticed quite a gathering of men across the lake at the 
residence of C. A. Sherman. Upon going round there I found 
myself at a county Republican convention. In those days elec- 
tions were held every year, and the odd numbered years were 
the most important, as all the state officers were elected in odd 
numbered years. The place of holding the convention was in a 
grove of oak trees a little southeast of Sherman's house. This 
was the first convention for nominating county officers ever held 
in the county. The convention was organized when I arrived. L. 
S. Cravath was chairman and Archie iMcArthur was secretary. 
I cannot recall quite all the names of delegates present, but the 
following list is nearly correct: Rich wood: A. J. Haney, E. E. 
Abbott. W. W. McLeod, Hans Hanson, Iver Christenson ; Ham- 
den, L. S. Cravath, Ward Bill, W^ A. Wilkins ; Lake Park, John 
Cromb, Oliver Taylor, M. L. Devereaux ; Audubon, John Beaver, 
James G. McGrew, David Pyle, F. K. Small; Detroit, L AL 
Thomas, J. O. Crummett. Josiah Delemeter, Archie ]\IcArthur ; 
Burlington, Charles Churchill ; Lake Eunice. John ^McClelland 
and L. G. Stevenson. 

Some of the county offices had been filled by appointment dur- 
ing the first half of the year to serve until their successors were 
elected and qualified, and they were all I think candidates for 
re-election to their own or some other office. L. G. Stevenson 
w^anted to go to the legislature or at least to go as a delegate to 
the senatorial convention ; Becker County being entitled to one 
delegate. John McClelland was a candidate for register of. deeds, 
and Archie McAirthur, the present incumbent was a candidate 
also. Ole A. Boe was a candidate for re-election to the offtce 
of county treasurer, and John Cromb was a candidate for the 



552 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

same office. Charles E. Churchill wanted to be sheriff again 
and F. K. Small was also a candidate. Dr. Pyle insisted on hold- 
ing" on to the office of county auditor, and Oliver Taylor was 
likewise a candidate. Balloting resulted in the nomination of the 
following candidates : Oliver Taylor, auditor ; Ole A. Boe, treas- 
urer; Archie AIcArthur, register of deeds; F. K. Small, sheriff'; 
John Beaver, clerk of court ; Josiah Delemeter, county attorney ; 
J. O. Crummett, judge of probate; A. H. Wilcox, county survey- 
or, and for delegate to the senatorial convention, L. S. Cravath, 
who was there nominated for representative to the legislature. 
County commissioners, first district, L. JNI. Devereaux of Lake 
Park; second district, AA'. \\ . H. Howe; Detroit, third district, 
A. J. Haney, of Richwood. There was much dissatisfaction 
over the result of this convention and another was held, or at 
least that was the report, but when and where I never knew, 
at any rate a new ticket was put in the field. It retained a few 
of the names on the other ticket, but was mostly made up of 
new candidates. The new ticket swept the county. L. S. 
Cravath went to the legislature, and the following county of- 
ficers were elected : Auditor, John Cromb ; treasurer, Ole A. 
Boe; sheriff', Peter Ebeltoft; register of deeds, John jNIcClelland ; 
clerk of court, John F. Beaver; judge of probate, E. E. Abbott; 
county attorney, Josiah Delemeter; county surveyor, A. H. Wil- 
cox ; coroner, David Pyle ; county commissioner, first district, L. 
G. Stevenson; second district. A\\ W. H. Howe; third district, A. 
J. Haney. F. K. Small had withdrawn and Peter Ebeltoft was 
elected sheriff in his place, but as he had never declared his inten- 
tions to become a citizen he could not ciualify and Charles E. 
Churchill held over another year. E. E. Abbott did not serve 
as judge of probate and Isaiah Delemeter was appointed. A. J. 
Haney did not qualify as county commissioner as he left the 
county about that time, and J. E. Van Gorden was appointed in 
his place the next ]\Iarch. About the 12th of September, we were 
sent from Lake Park to examine the railroad company's land in 
Detroit Township which was just being surveyed by the govern- 
ment. W. W. AA'hitley of Brainerd was the government survey- 
or doing the work. We camped at my place at Oak Lake. About 
the same time we were notified that Colonel Loomis, the land 
commissioner of the Northern Pacific, accompanied by George B. 
A\' right, the general land agent, was on his way to Detroit. 



A PioNKER History of Be;cke;r County. 553 

AA'itli them was Lord Gordon, said to be a Scotch nobleman of 
high birth and immense wealth. They were attended by a large 
train of attendants and were moving by easy stages so it was 
several days before they reached Detroit. They did not stay 
there long, but moved on up to Oak Lake and pitched their camp 
in the grove near my house and remained there a week or two. 
Colonel Loomis had served as colonel in the Union army during 
the War of the Rebellion, and came out of the army with a fine 
military record, and was appointed to his present position un- 
doubtedly more on the strength of that record than for an\' spe- 
cial executive ability, such as the head of the Xorthern Pacific 
land department should possess, and he had now fallen in with 
a boon companion, and Lord Gordon was making the most of 
his opportunity. In addition to Loomis, Wright and Gordon, 
there was James B. Power, afterwards general land agent, a 
man by the name of Swenson, a prospective heavy land purchaser 
and land colonizer, a cook imported from Boston, with three or 
four assistants, a man in charge of the commissary department, 
three or four lady friends of the Lord Gordon's ; and high land 
commissioner, who had left their husbands at home, several team- 
sters and a man or two to look after the tents and baggage, twen- 
ty-one persons in all. Thev were eating imported canned fruit 
and had their bread baked in Chicago and brought every day by 
express and team, and they were also drinking the choicest 
of imported wines and brandies. On one occasion Colonel 
Loomis and his lordship called at my house. They tried to be 
agreeable but were both considerably under the influence of liquor 
and did not appear to be at ease and did not stay long. Gordon 
was wanting to buy 30,000 acres of land and was going to bring 
a colony of 300 Scotch farmers to occupy the land which was a 
tempting proposition to the land commissioner. Finally the 
party after visiting several places farther west drifted ofl:' to 
Pelican Rapids where Gordon decided to locate, and as a con- 
sequence the little town took a boom, and prices of all kinds of 
property went soaring out of sight. In the meantime the direct- 
ors of the Northern Pacific heard what was going on and called 
a halt, and the Lord Gordon carnival was brought to a close. 
He was found to be an imposter and a swindler. The land de- 
partment was $30,000 out of pocket and the high land commis- 
sioner was dischareed from office. Gordon afterwards drifted 



554 -^ PioNEKR History of BivCker County. 

back East, beat Jay Gould out of $200,000 United States bonds 
and then went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he afterwards com- 
mitted suicide as he was about to be arrested for crimes committed 
in Scotland previous to coming to America. 

The [Minneapolis Journal of Oct. ist. 1905, published two 
years after the above was written, in a full page article, pictures 
Lord Gordon as "The man who tricked Jay Gould in the zenith of 
his financial career and who caused the relations between the gov- 
ernments of the two great English speaking races to become 
strained. 

"There are few of the younger generation who ever heard of 
the Right Honorable Lord Gordon, yet the man who wrongfully 
made use of that title was, for cool, unadulterated nerve and cun- 
ning, and unparalleled affrontery, the most remarkable swindler 
the world has ever seen — the very king of confidence men." 

From Oak Lake. Howard and I moved to Section 26 and 
pitched tents on the banks of the Pelican River, a little distance 
north of the present bridge on the Erie road. Captain C. K. Day 
and his family were living then in a snug log house a short distance 
from our camp having settled there early in the season. The family 
consisted of the captain, Mrs. Day and a little girl three or four 
years old by the name of Delia. She was not long in making the 
acciuaintance of our cook, a good natured Hollander by the name 
of Bemer, who used to load her up with sugar and canned 
fruit and other delicacies. Although the township of Detroit had 
only just been surveyed all the government sections except Sec- 
tions 2, 4 and 12 had been taken up by actual settlers. It came to 
my lot to make a plat of Section 27, where the depot now stands 
and there was not a house on the section. What little village 
there was then was all down in Tyler Town on Section 34 near the 
Pelican River. The sale of the odd numbered sections in Detroit 
Township had been made previous to this time to a Boston com- 
pany, of which company George H. Johnston was the head. 
Captain W^ C. Roberts, the advance agent, arrived about this time 
followed by Colonel Johnston, himself, a little later on. About the 
5th of October we completed the examination of the Detroit lands 
and moved our camp to Section 20, in what is now Audubon 
Township near the residence of Henry Way. 

On election day, I rode to Detroit on my little black pony to 
vote ; this was the first election ever held in Becker County. The 
judges were Alillard Howe, Frank Barnes and Josiah Delemeter. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 555 

Among the sections I examined were 10 and 15 where the 
village of Audubon now stands. There was was but one house 
there, the Henry J. Larson log house, where he had settled the 
year before. There was now a large force of men working on the 
railroad in this town and it was nearly completed, being finished 
early in Xovember. 

Audubon Township was now pretty well settled up as far as 
government land was concerned. Near where we were camped 
was living a man by the name of Walter R. Gregory, a brother to 
J. J. H. Gregory, the famous garden seed man of Marblehead, 
JNIassachusetts. He was a single man of eccentric nature, but 
withal a man of more than ordinary general intelligence. Among 
other things he told us was that when a boy he and his brother 
took great interest in gardening and how they even then interest- 
ed themselves in gathering and cultivating the seeds of choice 
vegetables, and how an old woman, a neighbor by the name of 
Hubbard had been raising some very extra fine squashes. They 
procured some of her squash seeds, and from those seeds origi- 
nated the famous Hubbard squash. In a few years they were 
sending the seeds all over the United States. In both Detroit 
and Audubon Townships we were recpiired to examine and plat 
both odd and even numbered sections and also interview all the 
settlers with reference to the date of their settlement and amount 
of land under cultivation, all of which with their building we 
were to map down on our diagrams. On Section 22 which I 
examined was living a man by the name of John Cook with his 
wife and three children. Cook was a native of New Hampshire, 
six feet tall and well proportioned and about forty years old I 
should judge. His wife was several years younger, of medium 
height, rather stout and fleshy and a decidedly handsome woman. 
She was a native of Maine, and her maiden name was Washburn. 
The three children, a boy and a girl and a baby were very bright 
and pretty children and altogether they were an interesting 
family. Cook was then building a new house a short distance 
north of his old one on a handsome rise of ground, and here we 
leave him for the present. 

On Section 18 I came across the residence of Father James 
Gurley, the pioneer preacher of Becker County, then about seven- 
ty years of age, but full of energy and ambition. I had heard him 
preach several times during the past summer at Oak Lake City. I 



556 A Pioneer History of BucfvEu County. 

first saw him at Newark. Ohio, in September, 1856. He had lived 
and preached in that vicinity for many years. 

We moved into Lake Park Township just after the election in 
November. The winter was then setting- in and it was rather 
cold sleeping and cooking and eating in a tent. So we were glad 
to accept an invitation to move into John Cromb's house and live 
as a part of the family, or rather that he and his wife should live 
as a part of our family. They had no children at that time and 
they were both quite young. We had lots of provisions and a 
good cook, so we furnished all the eatables and the Cromb family 
furnished house room, fuel and the cook stove. About this time ni}' 
nephew Melville Davis joined the party as land examiner, and S. S. 
Stebbins who was one of a party that was examining the railroad 
land in Cormorant boarded a few days with us, as his party 
had disbanded for a short tinte. It is unnecessary to say that we 
had a good time for the next week. It is true we occasionally 
broke through the ice that was just forming on the lakes, but we 
had a comfortable jilace to stay at night and good lively surround- 
ings, so what of it. After three or four days Stebbins received 
word that his party had returned and were going to operate in 
the town of Lake Eunice. So the next morning he left for Section 
10 in that township. Pie went east around the north shore of Big 
Cormorant Lake to Section t,2 of Audubon, and down along the 
long peninsula that extends into Little Cormorant Lake, until 
he came to the end of the point ; then he undertook to cross over 
on the ice to what he supposed was the mainland on the other 
side of the lake. When about half way over, he broke through 
and went in nearly to his arms. He found he could easily break 
the ice ahead of him, and the water being only waist deep and 
being already half way across he decided to go ahead and after 
breaking ice for thirty or forty rods, reached the land nearly 
chilled to death. He always carried a fire-proof match-box. and 
soon built a fire and warmed up a little and then proceeded on 
his journey. 

After traveling through the woods for a quarter of a mile or 
so. he discovered that he was on an island since called Hunt's 
Island, and that it was at least eighty rods across to the main- 
land. The ice would not hold him up and he was at a loss to 
know what to do. It was growing colder very fast so he built 
another fire and sat down awaitins: for the ice to strengthen. 



A PioNiiiiK History of Becker County. 557 

He waited until nearly night and as he had had nothing to eat 
since morning he began to get hungry, and just before night- 
fall he again ventured upon the ice. It would not yet hold his 
weight while standing or walking, so he lay flat down on his appetite 
and crawled and wiggled along like a crippled lizard, the ice 
bending and cracking every foot of the way. He could see that 
the water was very deep. It was dark when he reached the 
shore, and after tearing through the brush and timber for nearly 
a mile he came to a new cabin with the roof on, door and window 
holes cut but no doors or windows, no flooring nor furniture 
nor anything else but a twelve inch plank. He was still wet 
and the night was bitterly cold, so he made a fire on the ground 
floor and leaned the plank against the wall, and over the fire 
and then stretched himself out on the plank to dry and smoke. 
This house was built by Joseph Shabeneau, and was the house 
he lived in for several years on Section 8, Lake Eunice. The 
next morning he made his way through the woods to Section 10, 
where a family by the name of Horton was living, where he 
found the rest of the party. Our next move was up to Section 
20, Lake Park, where we lived in a house with Gilbert Sorren- 
son for a while and from there up to Oliver Taylor's place on 
Section 2. While camped here I examined Sections 5 and 6 in 
Audubon, and went in to see Gunder Carlson who had been 
shot by an Indian the year before. His brother Elling Carlson, 
who was also then living on Section 6, was there at the time. 
The old man was still suffering from the eft'ects of his wound. 
His elbow was shattered and he had constant pains in his side 
and back from buckshot that had never been extracted. He 
did not live very long afterwards. We wound up our work in 
these towns on the 5th day of December, 1871, and disbanded 
for the season. I was retained by the railroad company as 
timber agent, to keep an eye on their timber land, all the way 
from Red River to Detroit for twenty miles each side of the 
railroad, with a kind or roving commission to go where I thought 
proper, and look after trespass and see that no timber was stolen 
and to report all persons found cutting on railroad land. It was 
not very agreeable business, particularly among my neighbors 
and friends, but they let the timber alone remarkably well, and 
although I cruised the country thoroughly, I found but few cases 
of trespass after they found tliat I was watching. To help out 



558 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

the prairie fellows for firewood, I used to sell them dead and down 
timber, of which there was plent}' in the groves, and always sold 
it on time and very cheap and never asked for any pay after- 
wards ; and never received any, so matters went along quite 
smooth. The few that I did report were never molested after- 
wards. So while some of them were quite angry and others bad- 
ly frightened at the time, the winter passed away without any 
very disagreeable incidents. The most of the settlers in my terri- 
tory were Norwegians, and it was amusing to see how complete- 
ly as a general thing they would lose all knowledge of the English 
language when I found them in the railroad timber. They would 
even forget their own names and where they lived. It will not 
do to mention any names, but there are several old settlers still 
living who yet smile out of the corner of their eye as they relate to 
me the tricks they used to play on me ; and how they would become 
frightened in turn at things that occurred that winter. The win- 
ter was a long, hard one, and I went on snowshoes most of the 
time. I had a pass on the railroad, but did not get a chance to use 
it all the winter as the cars only made two trips to Red River, and 
I walked the entire distance to Moorhead and back several times. 
There was not a house at Lake Park or Audubon, but a man by 
the name of Jerome Daniels kept a hotel and saloon in a tent 
about two miles west of where Lake Park is now, and it made a 
very comfortable place to stay. I remember one evening in Febru- 
ary, I was staying there all night, when about lo o'clock a sleigh 
load of men drove up and came in to warm. They were Nels 
Nelson, O. B. Anderson, Ingel Ukestad and Lawrence Pederson. 
They had been to x^lexandria to prove up on their land. I don't 
remember whether they had driven all the way or whether the} had 
only driven from Detroit, but the night was very cold and the}' were 
cold themselves, so they proceeded to warm up outside and inside. 
They were in high glee at their success at the land office, be- 
cause they had only been askd to pay $1.25 an acre, whereas they 
had expected to pay the double minimum price of $2.50. I think 
they were the first settlers to prove up in Becker County. 

During the winter I made a trip to Spring Creek and Cormor- 
ant Lake. Cornish had his sawmill in operation, and quite a (pian- 
tity of logs were being hauled from Cormorant Lake, mostly bass- 
w^ood and oak, and I had a hint that some parties at the northwest 
end of the lake were cutting: more than their share of logs, and 



A Pione;e;r History of Bccker County. 559 

were getting them on Section 5 which belonged to the railway 
company. I accordingly started for Section 5, and at dark put up 
at a house on Section 20, where a Norwegian by the name of 
Borie Tollickson or Willaim Thompson resided. He was an old 
bachelor, and an unmarried sister kept house for him. I stayed 
with them all night, but Bill said as we retired for the night, that 
he was obliged to go to Norwegian Grove the next day to buy 
some seed wheat, and as the snow was deep and the traveling 
was bad, he would be obliged to get an early start. So in the 
morning he got his own breakfast and went away, long before 
daylight. 

The next day I proceeded to Section 5 and found a good man}' 
fresh stumps and tree tops and new roads where logs had been 
hauled away to the sawmill, but not a single man was to be found. 
Although it was about the middle of the week, a Sabbath day 
silence pervaded the vicinity. I waited around a good part of 
the day and no one appeared. I found out several years after- 
wards that Thompson had been up in the neighborhood before 
daylight, instead of going to Norwegian Grove and informed them 
all of my presence in the vicinity. 

On another occasion a little farther west, I found a couple of 
young Norwegians making rails on a section of railroad land 
near the west line of the section. They claimed they were at 
work on their own land, upon which I told them to go with me 
and I would show them the section line. They mounted their 
Norwegian snowshoes or skees, while I was mounted on a pair 
of Indian snowshoes. We found the line and were tracing it 
through the brush and timber up towards where they had been 
at work, myself in the lead and they following on behind. After 
a Avhile, I stopped to set up my compass to take a new sight. I 
had observed that my friends had been very quiet for several 
minutes, when I looked round and saw them about a quarter of 
a mile away mounted on their skees and fast flying over the top 
of the hill with the speed of the wind, their coat tails protruding 
behind at an angle of 90 degrees. At another time while looking 
over Section 19 in Audubon, I found where some timber had been 
cut and trailed away to a house on Section 18 where Chris Olson 
was living. I found Chris at work at his wood-pile cutting up 
some of this same timber. I had know Chris before and took 
quite a liking to him and felt bad at the thought of catching him 



560 A Pione;er History of Becker County. 

stealing timber. I told him I guessed I had caught him in a bad 
scrape, but as it was noon I would like to get some dinner, and 
we would talk it over. All right he said, "Come in." Chris was 
pleasant and sociable. We had a good dinner for which he 
would not take a cent, and as I was about to leave, he said he had 
something to show me and brought out a deed from the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Company which he had just received for the land 
where he had been cutting the timber. 

I was now county surveyor and had an arrangement with the 
railroad company to take time to do such work as the settlers 
might require, and accordingly, on February 9th, 1872, 1 began the 
survey of the townsite of Detroit. Captain AA'. C. Roberts was 
the man who employed me to do the work, and he and Charles 
W. Rand who lived on Section 24 were my assistants. Roberts 
had a plat of the townsite already drawn up and sent on from 
Boston. 

On the original plat, all the blocks were three hundred feet 
square. The original townsite included all of the south half of 
Section 27, and the only building on the townsite at that time 
was the New England House or AA^aldorf, as it is now called, 
which belonged to Roberts himself and that was about half com- 
pleted. We began at the southeast corner of Section 27 and 
laid out block after block until we came to the new building, and 
we found it now standing exactly in the middle of the street. We 
decided that the frame of the building could be easily moved, 
and that would be the easiest way out of the difficulty, and Rob- 
erts decided to solve the difficulty that way until he happened to 
think of the "blasted cellar," and as we could not contrive any 
way to move the cellar we concluded to let the building stand 
and move the townsite. We accordingly narrowed up the south 
tier of blocks by taking off 84 feet, and leaving a sixteen foot alley 
to run east and west through the middle of that line of blocks. 
When we came to stake out the blocks along the railroad right 
of way another question was finally settled by leaving a thirty 
foot strip on each side for a public "passageway" as we called it at 
that time, on each side of the 400 feet of right of way. 

The first day while we were wallowing through the snow, 
we saw a man coming in our direction from Tylertown, all the 
village there was then, who proved to be the Rev. H. N. Gates, 
the new Congregational minister, who had just made his first 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 561 

advent into Detroit. He was hunting for Captain Roberts the 
same as everybody else did who came to Detroit for accommoda- 
tions and information. I surveyed only about one quarter of the 
township that winter, and as we could not drive stakes into the 
frozen ground they fell down and many of them became misplaced 
and were driven into the ground in the spring several feet from 
where they belonged, which was the cause of considerable trouble 
afterwards. 

The winter of 1871-72 was a long, cold and stormy one. 
There was a large tie camp on Section 13, town of Height of Land, 
that winter. Several thousand pine ties were made and floated 
down Toad River to Perham in the spring. A dam was built 
across the outlet of Little Toad Lake for that purpose. This was 
the first attempt to drive on Toad River in Becker County. 

On the nth of April I was again at the residence of the John 
Cook family in the town of Audubon. They had just moved into 
their new house, that was built on a low hill where their cemetery 
now stands. Mrs. Cook appeared to be delighted with her new 
home. 

On the i6th of April I started with a party of nine land exam- 
iners to examine the railroad land in the Wild Rice country. We 
left my house at Oak Lake in the morning and drove to the south 
part of what is now the town of Atlanta, crossing the Buffalo 
River on Section 16 in Cuba with difficulty. There were three 
settlers in Atlanta at that time. Nub Nelson Viger on Section 
31, where we camped over night and another mian in the grove 
by the lake on Section 19, whose name I have forgotten and an- 
other single man between the two. Nelson was then an old man 
and had settled there the year before. I was particularly im- 
pressed with the beauty and fertility of the land along the south 
branch of the Wild Rice. We worked west from Atlanta taking 
a tier of townships in width for 18 miles, and then worked north 
and took a tier of townships back east to the reservation line. 
We then worked north and then west to Red River. 

There was not a single settler at that time in the township of 
Walworth. A man by the name of Ulen and a son of Nub Nelson 
were breaking land where the present village of Ulen is now lo- 
cated, and they were living in a tent. There were seven families 
on the Wild Rice River, a few miles w^est of the reservation. 
Two families, Austinson and Peterson, were living a few miles 



562 A Pioneer History of Becker Couxty. 

west of Atlanta and a family by the name of Tatley lived several 
miles farther west and they were all the people we found living west 
of the reservation until we came to the Red River. I examined 
the section on which the village of Ada stands, and there was 
no living soul within ten miles of there at that time. 

On my return home on the 20th of May, I first heard of the 
murder of the Cook family. 

A short time afterwards I made a trip to the south branch of 
the Wild Rice with M. E. d'Engelbroner and Van Vlissingen as 
related in the history of Cuba Township, returning about the 
25th of May, 1872, to where Lake Park village is now. A station 
had just been established and a building or two were just being 
started. There was, however, a large crowd of refugee settlers 
who had left their homes and gathered together from fear of the 
Indians. They had built a large stockade of railroad ties about 
50 by 100 feet in extent and were now camping inside. Some of 
them thought we were foolhardy in running around the country 
and risking our scalps. A prominent man, who was at that time 
a member of the board of county commissioners and a veteran 
of the civil war, asked me if I was not afraid to run around over 
the country the way I had done. Another similar stockade was 
built about four miles south of Lake Park by the settlers in that 
vicinity. The whole country about Audubon and Lake Park 
was panic stricken, and woe be to the Indian who would have 
dared to venture into that neighborhood. The Indians were as 
badly scared as the whites. The next day after my return home, 
I went over to Section 4 in Detroit Township and while riding my 
pony along the shore of Floyd Lake I ran across three or four 
Indians in the woods, and as soon as they saw me coming they 
made a break for their canoe and paddled out into deep water as 
fast as they could go, calling out, "Bozhoo nitchee, bozhoo nit- 
chee," until they were out of hearing. 

Aljout the 26th, I was sent to Glyndon to examine the railroad 
land in that township. The Great Northern Railway line had 
just been located, crossing the Northern Pacific at that place, and 
a townsite had recently been laid out. There for the first time 
I met John A. Teague. .He had just arrived from Massachusetts 
and had taken a homestead a mile or two south of Hawley. 

Early in June with two other men, I began what was to me an 
exceedingly interesting season's work. I had orders from the 



A PioMEi;K History of Becker County. 563 

Northern Pacific Railway land agent to examine the odd num- 
bered sections in what are now the towns of Hamden, Richwood, 
Holmesville, Erie, Height of Land, Burlington and Lake View in 
Becker County, and then take three townships in width. Ranges 
40, 41, and 42 in Otter Tail County, and work south through the 
belt of timber then known as the "Otter Tail Woods," almost down 
to Fergus Falls. 

I\'Iy outfit was an ox team and wagon with two tents, a cook and 
two assistant surveyors, Chester Coburn and my nephew, Melville 
Davis. The dry seasons of 1871 had reduced the cjuantity of sur- 
face water in Hamden and Richwood materially. It was particu- 
larly noticeable in the north part of Hamden in the big marsh on 
Sections 2, 3, 4, 10 and 11. In the fall of 1870, it was impossi- 
ble to run lines through this marsh on account of high water. It 
was now so dry I could walk over it. In 1870 when surveying 
Hamden I thought I had found a mistake of about 80 rods on the 
south boundary of the reservation where it crossed this big 
marsh. This line had been run about ten years before, and is 
wdiat is called a standard parellel or correction line. We did not 
connect our lines with the corners in that line as you will observe 
on the government maps but established new corners for both 
township and section lines wherever we intersected the old line, 
and measured the distance to the nearest old corners. I was now 
able to verify my suspicions and found the south line of Section 
34 on the reservation to be about a mile and a quarter long. AA'hen 
the surveyor, who subdivided this part of the reservation in 1871, 
came to find out this error, he corrected this line to an even mile 
in length, and tlirew the error into the west tier of sections in that 
township, where it shows to-day. By looking at the county map 
you will see that Sections 6, 7, 18, 19, 30 and 31, Township 141, 
Range 42, are a mile and a quarter wide east and west, and have a 
double tier of lots on the western border. 

An interesting feature of Hamden at that time was the multi- 
tude of wild ducks and geese nesting around the lakes an^ ponds. 
While examining Section 9, I counted four separate broods of 
goslings floating on the surface of the little creek and duck nests 
were plentiful everyway. On the shore of one of the lakes an 
old mallard duck flew up leaving a brood of young ducks liter- 
ally stacked up on the beach. I ran up and gathered up both 
not knowing what to do with them let them go and counted thir- 



564 A i'luxEER History of Becker County. 

teen altogether in the brood. Hamden was now fairly well 
settled, all the even numbered sections being taken but 2 and 
4 ; however, as we were now looking over the odd numbered 
sections only I did not come in contact with many of the settlers. 
They had all now recovered from the Indian scare, but the young 
grasshoppers were hatching out by the million and were already 
destroying the young vv'heat both here and at Richwood. In 
Richwood the government prairie land was about all taken, but 
there were scarcely any settlers in the timber. The Richwood 
mill property had changed hands. Haney had sold out to W. W. 
McLeod and E. E. Abbott of Sauk Centre who had taken posses- 
sion the fall before, and they were doing quite a business sawing 
pine lumber. Haney had cut quite an amount of logs in the win- 
ter of 1 870-1, and this new firm had cut still more the winter just 
past and floated them down the Buffalo River to their mill. Here 
for the first time I saw William Long and W. D. Hazelton, both 
of whom were youthful in appearance although I think they were 
both married. The mill-pond at Richwood was now full of water 
and the new proprietors manifested considerable anxiety as to 
what I would have to say, and what kind of report I would make 
with reference to their overflowing so much land, but I found that 
the meander lines as I had run them when I surveyed the country 
for the government fitted the present conditions of the lakes so 
completely that there was scarcely any difference between the 
government plats and the new diagrams that I made at this time. 
Richwood was now a lively little place. The Richwood sawmill 
was the first sawmill built in Becker County outside the White 
Earth reservation. 

On the 1 8th day of June, the United States land office at Oak 
Lake was opened up and then a general rush of settlers from all 
over the county came to file on their land. W. H. Newton was 
the register and Reuben Reynolds was receiver, and John Comb, 
chief clerk. I went home and filed on my claim the day the land 
ofiice opened and met a bear on my way on Section 17 in Rich- 
wood. 

There were no settlers in the timber and no roads except my 
old survey road of 1870. So we drove our team into the present 
town of Holmesville and camped on Section 27 on the Buffalo 
River. Nothing of interest was found except that Swan Olund 



A Pione;e;r History of Beckkr County. 565 

was the only settler in the township. I was here joined by M. H. 
Severance, an assistant land examiner. 

We next moved into the present town of Height of Land as 
far east as the corner of Sections 14, 15, 22 and 23. There were 
no settlers in the town and no roads except the road I had cut a 
year before. A terrible fire had swept over the whole township 
and destroyed large quantities of timber, particularly aspen or 
poplar as it was commonly called. The southwest part of the 
township was nearly bare of timber and we could take sights 
with our compass for nearly a quarter of a mile at a time. The 
fire swept the whole of Erie Township east of the Otter Tail 
River, and nearly all the poplar there and in the west part of 
Height of Land has grown up since the spring of 1872. 

We completed the examination of Township 139, Range 39, 
and moved out to Otter Tail River and spent our Fourth of July 
near where the Shoenberger sawmill was afterwards built. There 
were no settlers in that part of the town then nor for nine years 
afterward. At this time the little prairies and openings along the 
Otter Tail were red with strawberries. I have never seen anything 
like it before or since. The day after the Fourth we moved down 
into the town of Burlington and some of the wa)- our wagon wheels 
actually left two red trails behind them. In Burlington we camped 
on Section 14 on the edge of the big tamarack swamp on James 
Winram's claim. The up river road at that time ran along the 
west edge of the tamarack swamp opposite Tim Chilton's present 
residence. Winram was still very lame from the efifects of the 
gun-shot wound received the year before from Bachinana the In- 
dian outlaw. 

Charles Scott, a government surveyor, who had been appointed 
to survey the town of Silver Leaf was just coming out of the 
woods having completed the survey of that township. 

Among the sections that I examined was Section 35 where 
the village of Frazee now stands. There was not a house on the 
present townsite, although there were two houses on the section. 
Patrick Ouinlan was living in a log house on the southwest 
quarter, of the southeast quarter of Section 35 on the south side of 
the river. He had a log house and stable and a small piece of 
land broken. Ouinlan was the first white settler in Becker County. 
This place is on the land now owned by Edward Briggs. There 
was another man living on the west side of the river by the name 



566 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

of Charles E. Churchill. His house stood on the side hill on the 
land now owned by William Schabbehar. Churchill was the second 
settler in the town of Burlington and was the first sheriff of 
Becker County. 

At this time, July 8th. Carl Campbell and his father were 
building a sawmill and dam where the Commonwealth sawmill is 
now. Some of the Chiltons were part owners of the mill. The 
dam was nearly finished and the frame work of the sawmill was 
about ready for the machinery. There was then a fine grove of pine 
timber standing across the river from the sawmill, on Sections 26 
and 35, probably 300,000 feet within half a mile of the mill. Wil- 
liam Chilton was living in a log cabin on the west bank of the 
Otter Tail about 100 rods above the sawmill. He was not married 
at that time. 

Our next camping place was on the east shore of Detroit 
Lake on Section 12 in the town of Lake View at the mouth of 
Sucker Brook. There was a Swiss Dutchman living there by the 
name of Anthony Miller with an Irish wife and a large family 
of children. On the 35th of June a man by the name of John 
Rutterman and his wife had been drowned nearly opposite where 
we camped. His body had been recovered only a day or two before 
our arrival, and that of his wife having been found a short time 
before. They had taken a place on Section 14 afterward home- 
steaded by George Martin and which still later came into the 
possession of Horneck and Bowman. 

Our next move was to the outlet of Detroit Lake in the town of 
Lake View. I was surprised to see the improvements that had 
been made in Detroit since the last winter. E. G. Holmes and R. L. 
Frazee had formed a partnership and had purchased of S. J. Fox 
the forty acres of land in Section 34, since known as the Frazee 
and Holmes Addition. They tried to get me to stop and survey 
it out but I could not leave my other work ; yet I took time to 
survey out a square block which is now block No. 7, where Frazee 
had commenced to build a house. Frazee sold the house to John 
A. Bowman, and it is the place where G. E. Holmes has resided 
for the last twenty years. While here I attended church for the 
first time. Bishop Whipple preached in the Northern Pacific 
freight house, which had just been completed. The passenger 
depot was not yet finished. Frank A. Johnson was holding forth 
in a small portable building that had been brought in on the 



A Pioneer Historv oe Becker County. 567 

cars. ]\[ell. Davis and Coburn left at this place and went to 
Dakota to run lines for the government. JNI. H. Severance was 
with me, as was Sam A\'ales, the cook and teamster. I was here 
joined by Charles J. Wright at that time about nineteen years of 
age, and now the wealthiest man with perhaps one exception in 
C)tter Tail County. The C. H. Sturtevant family was then living 
on their homestead on Section 4, and Dock Brown had a house 
farther up the lake in the same section near the town line. While 
passing his house one day, the Thomas Corbett family was unload- 
ing from a wagon and taking possession of Brown's house, having 
rented it for a short time. They had just arrived from the East, 
although Corbett himself was here the year before. The Corbett 
boys were small then, but there was family enough to fill the 
wagon box. 

There were a few settlers in the north part of Lake View, par- 
ticularly on the prairie in the northwest corner, but there were few 
in the south part, except at Buck's mill, where William and Simeon 
Buck were then building their mill dam and sawmill on the Pelican 
River. The water had been recently shut off and the pond was 
now full which made it difficult to survey out Section 31. 

Near the center of the township there stood a large oak tree 
with the nest of a bald eagle in the top. An eagle with a white 
head was soaring around over the tree, while perched on the edge 
of the nest were two eagles apparently as large as the parent bird, 
but entirely black. Severance brought down one of them with 
his revolver. It is a fact not known to everybody that young 
bald eagles are always black, and do not develop the bald head 
until they are about two years old. 

Our next move was down to a little creek near the corner of 
Sections 21, 22, 27 and 28, which was as far as any road had been 
cut out. We built a bridge across this creek where the bridge 
now stands on the Candor road, and then cut a road down to the 
lake on Sections 9 and 16 in the town of Candor. There were 
but two or three settlers in the south part of Lake View at that 
time east of the Pelican River. 

There was only one settler in the town of Candor in Otter Tail 
County. He was an Englishman with a family of twelve children. 
He had built a large log house of a very queer style of architecture 
on Section 6. Sauer had his place afterwards. 

My next move was to the prairie south of Frazee, in what is 
now Hobart Township, Otter Tail County, pitching our camp at the 



568 A PioxEER History of Beckur County. 

second crossing of the Otter Tail River, where Nicholas Hendry 
had opened a store two years before. L. D. Hendry, the present 
Mayor of Frazee was living on a homestead on Section 13. He 
was a big, husky, good natured looking youth, twenty-three years 
of age, and was running around barefooted over the prairies at 
the time. 

From now until the 20th of November, I was at work in Otter 
Tail County, when I resumed my work of the previous winter as 
timber agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, my terri- 
tory extending from the Red River to New York Mills, and twen- 
ty miles each side of the railroad. The settlers made me but 
little trouble, but there was some lumbering going on in the 
eastern part of my territory that needed some looking after. A 
sawmill company was organized at Detroit and a sawmill put in 
operation in the western part of the village, on block 19. 

NOTICE OF CO-PARTNERSJilP. 

On October 15th, 1872, the Detroit Lumber and Wood Com- 
pany was formed consisting of the following persons. 

L. D. Phillips, x*\lbert L. Smart, Kimball Hayden, Charles 
Rand, C. E. Brown, George W. Rand and W. F. Waterman. 

Phillips had taken a homestead on Section 14 in Erie with 
the expectation of supplying the mill with pine logs. 

A road was swamped out and a few loads hauled to Detroit, 
but it was soon found to be a losing enterprise as far as pine 
logs were concerned, so the logging business after that was con- 
fined to Oak and Basswood. Colonel Johnston cut and hauled a 
hundred thousand feet or so from Section 13 in Detroit, and that 
was about the extent of the winter's business. R. L. Frazee cut 
about one million feet on Sections 14 and 23 in Erie that winter 
and floated them down to his Frazee mill in the spring. The 
Buck brothers at Buck Mills cut and sawed up some fine oak tim- 
ber that winter which they shipped to Moorhead. W. W. McLeod, 
Abbott and Van Gorden cut several hundred thousand feet of 
pine on Sections 10, 13 and 16 in Holmesville, which they floated 
down to the sawmill at Richwood. This was the third winter 
that lumbering had been carried on in that vicinity. Times were 
also lively at Spring Creek. Cornish's sawmill was not exactly in 
Becker County, but he had no conscientious scruples about saw- 
ing logs that were stolen over the county line. This completes 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 569 

the list of sawmills in operation at that time in Becker County, 
except the mill at White Earth. 

The winter of 1872-3 was the stormiest winter since the first set- 
tlement of Becker County. There was hardly a week during the 
whole winter without a blizzard. While Detroit was the recog- 
nized county seat, Oak Lake City was still a place of considerable 
importance. The United States land office was still there, and S. 
B. Pinney had moYed his store from C. A. Sherman's on the shore 
of Oak Lake two miles away. There were two other stores, two 
hotels, two or three saloons and nearly everything else that goes 
to make up a village was still there. As the laws of the state of 
Minnesota did not require county officers to hold their offices at 
the county seat for three years after the organization of their coun- 
ty, the Becker County officials were at this time scattered through- 
out the county. John Cromb, the county auditor was chief clerk 
in the United States land office, and Ole A. Boe, the county treas- 
urer was clerking in the store of S. B. Pinney, and consequently 
they kept their officers at their respective places of business. The 
20th day of December, 1872, was cold and stormy, too much so 
in fact for a man to be wandering around in the woods, so I put 
in the day at Oak Lake and having a little spare money concluded 
to go and pay my taxes. The treasurer had not yet received the 
tax books for the current year, so we went to the auditor's office to 
ascertain the amount of my tax. It was $3.79 and as the treasurer 
handed me the receipt he remarked that it was the first tax 
that had been paid, and as that year, 1872, was the first year any 
taxes had been levied, I found I had paid the first tax ever paid 
in Becker Count}'. I have the receipt yet, a facsimile of which 
appears on the following page. 

With the advent of spring my labors and troubles as timber 
agent came to a close. I had expected in the beginning to make 
enemies of the whole country, but I had treated the settlers squarely, 
and they in turn had refrained from appropriating railroad tim- 
ber far better than could have been expected. I had sold them 
all the dead and down that they wanted for fuel at a very low- 
figure, on time and never received a cent and never expected to 
receive a cent of pay for it, and they and the railroad company and 
myself were all well satisfied. When it was all over with, they 
concluded that it was better to have me watch them and the tim- 
ber than some stranger. On the 13th day of April, 1873. I was 
looking up some trespass on lands in the vicinity of New York Mills, 



570 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

when I received a telegram from the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany stating that a company of one hundred and fifty emigrants 
from England were coming on the afternoon train destined for 
Hawley, and I was directed to take the train and go with them 
and show them land in that vicinity until further orders. I took 
the train at the appointed time and proceeded to Hawley. I sat 
down in a seat that was occupied by a man by the name of Samuel 
Pearce, who had a boy with him by the name of Thomas at that 
time about thirteen years of age. It was a raw, disagreeal^le day 
in April, following a long cold winter, with some ice in the lakes 



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ill jdll /III- Tti.vi's (lii li.is pcrsniKii iinijU'rlij Jnr I hi' tjnar IS'tj) ^, .^ 



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and ponds and a few snow drifts still lingering around their bor- 
ders. The emigrants were well pleased with the country through 
Becker County, with its lakes and groves, but a look of disap- 
pointment came over their faces as they looked out over the cheer- 
less prairies in the vicinity of their destination. They had ex- 
pected to find a fairly well cultivated country and a flourishing 
village at Hawley, instead of which there was nothing there but 
two tents and a freight depot. When the train stopped my friend 
Pearce looked out and enquired if this was the "rising town of 
Hawley," that they had heard so much about. He finally declared 
his belief that the whole thing was a "bloody sell." The party 
took possession of the freight depot and cooked and ate and slept 
there for some time. The next morning after our arrival I saw 
Mr. Pearce and Tom making a bee-line up along the railroad 
track in the direction of Becker Countv, and I never saw him 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 571 

again for a year and a half, when I found him at Frazee's lumber 
camp up on the Otter Tail River. He had taken a homestead on 
Section two (2) in Burlington Township and his whole family was 
living on the homestead. James Littlemore and Fred A. Southern 
of Detroit were offshoots from that same colonv. 



Chapter XXXI. 

MOSQUITOES, PRAIRIE FIRES AND GRASSHOPPERS. 

The old settlers doubtless all remember the mosquitoes of the 
early seventies. They have been getting gradually and beauti- 
fully less year by year, especially in the older towns, and a genera- 
tion or two hence it will be difficult for people to comprehend what 
the first settlers were obliged to endure from these bloodthirsty 
little villains. There are thousands of them to be found in the 
country now, but thirty-five years ago we had them by the mil- 
lion. The diflierence in these figures will fairly represent the 
ratio of difiference, between the mosquitoes in 1870 and in 1905, 
especially in the villages and some of the older townships. 

A great many of the early settlers came from countries where 
there were but few if any of these insects, and were totally un- 
prepared for their onslaughts, and as most of them were obliged 
to sleep in their wagons, or in the open air for several weeks, with 
now and then a tent, their sufferings were intense. Some of them 
were wise and fortunate enough to bring mosquito netting, and 
were thus enabled to escape to a large extent, especially at night. 
But many came without any, and the only way in which they 
could escape their endless persecutions at night w-as to build a 
smudge and sleep in the smoke all night, w^hich was almost as bad 
as to be tormented by the mosquitoes. 

My surveying party in 1870 sufifered intensely. We had only 
one tent and that was used for a kitchen, dining room, storehouse 
and sleeping room. There was no way in wdiich we could close it 
up, and as we had no mosquito netting we were reduced to the 
expedient of sleeping all night long, night after night, in a cloud 
of smoke, and as the warm weather continued through the month 
of September, our sufferings were long drawn out. My experience 
in the early part of 1871 was the same, but later in the season we 
hit upon a scheme that worked to a charm, and since that time I 



572 A Pioneer History of Becker Col'xtv. 

have never been annoyed by mosquitoes at night when sleeping 
in a tent. We banked up our sleeping tent by shoveling sods and 
soil around the bottom of the tent, so that none could get in un- 
derneath, and after entering the tent, we would sew the front 
flaps together with a darning needle and coarse twine by taking 
a few long stitches and then placing a sod at the bottom to hold 
the front down. We now had our tent in shape so that no 
mosquitoes could enter. There would of course be a lot of them 
left inside, and to dispose of them we would light a candle and kill 
every last one of them in a few minutes. They would invariably 
alight on the walls of the tents, and by holding the candle under 
them one at a time, w-e soon cleared the tent ; zip, zip, they would 
fall dead to the ground. It was pretty tough on the little rascals, 
but they were trying their best to torture us to death, and most 
anything was honorable in that kind of warfare. They were as bad 
on the prairie as they were in the timber, but were generally the 
worst in the brush or where the timber and prairie came together. 
They were worse in a wet than in a dry season, and were w^orse in a 
warm season than in a cold one, and when it was both wet and hot 
life was a weary burden. On the prairie and in the openings they 
were worse in the evening and early part of the night than at any 
other period of time, but in the heavy timber they were not as bad 
at night as in the day time. 

They were just as bad on the dry breezy prairies of Dakota as 
they w^ere in Minnesota, but the worst places of all on this earth, I 
think, were in the Red River and Missouri River bottoms the next 
summer after a spring overflow. I have worked all day long when 
I would be covered with them so thick that I could not tell the 
color of my clothes, and in the summer of 1878 the plastered 
walls in some of the hotels in Bismarck would be black with them 
for days and nights together. 

The farther north you go, the worse the mosquitoes, and if 
you wish to see them in all their glory at the present time, take 
a trip up to the Lake of the Woods in the summer. The deer and 
moose and some of the domestic animals are obliged to spend a good 
part of the time in the lakes and rivers in the summer to save 
themselves from mosquitoes and flies. 

R. M. Probsfield says: 

People these days have no idea what a plague mosquitoes were then. 
In 1868 the Red river overflowed, and the trail to Pembina was lined with 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 573 

the skeletons of horses and oxen, which had succumbed to tlie loss of 
blood and the torture from their constant bites. 

One day that summer Billy Piper came down and stayed with me over 
night and next morning he found his horse dead from exhaustion and loss 
of blood from mosquito bites, and I had to lend him another to go on 
with. But civilization, assisted by the cattle and horses, has worked won- 
ders in ridding our county of these pests. 

The big" horse-flies that formerly made animal life a burden, 
have also nearly disappeared from a large portion of Becker County. 

Prairie Fires. 

Many years ago, before the prairies in the northwestern town- 
ships of Becker County were plowed up, they were occasionally 
visited by widespread and destructive prairie fires. 

This was especially the case with Walworth, Atlanta and Cuba, 
and the two townships east of Walworth and Atlanta on the White 
Earth Indian Reservation. The prairie towns lying farther east 
and south, were partially protected by the numerous lakes and 
ponds wdthin their borders ; but notwithstanding this partial pro- 
tection they were soinetimes overrun by fierce prairie fires that 
were driven in by the northwesterly winds from the Red River 
valley. 

Such a fire swept down through Hamden and the western part 
of Richwood about the 25th day of October, 1870, when I was 
there surveying, and we only saved ourselves from a severe 
scorching by back-firing, which was done by setting the grass on 
fire where we stood and rushing in onto the burnt ground behind 
the fire. 

In October, 1871, we had our entire camp outfit burned up in 
Audubon Township by one of these fires. That was a remarkably 
dry season, and the fire obtained a foothold in some of the dried 
out marshes, particularly on Sections 10 and 11 of Audubon, 
and it smoked and steamed up through the show in man\' places 
until after New Years, wdien it was a foot and a half deep. 

Many an old settler of Becker County could relate to you sor- 
rowing tales of loss and sufi^ering occasioned by these fires. It 
was only by eternal vigilance in back-firing and plowing around 
their homes and stacks of hay and grain, that anything \vas saved 
as a general rule. 

I have encountered numerous prairie fires in my lifetime, but 
as a general thing paid but little attention to them. When there 



574 -^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

was but little wind and the grass not very heavy nor very dry, 
a prairie tire was a tame afifair. We usually walked through them 
and stood around such fires with but little thought ; but when the 
grass is heavy and thoroughly dry and the wind blowing a gale, 
a prairie fire is one of the most terrible demons of destruction that 
can be pictured by the most vivid imagination. 

To give you an adequate conception from my own experience, 
of what a red hot, rampant prairie fire will do when at its worst, I 
will be obliged to go outside of Becker County for fitting illustra- 
tions. 

On the loth day of October, 1878, I was engaged in surveying 
and platting railroad lands in Dakota Territory west of the Shey- 
enne River, and a few miles south from where the village of Coop- 
erstown now stands. On that day a fierce, raging prairie fire 
swept over the country where we were operating; jumped across 
the Sheyenne River, a stream nearly as large as the Otter Tail 
and was never checked in its career of destruction until it reached 
the Red River. The two men in our camp were more or less 
scorched, one of them quite severely. Our camp was pitched on 
the leeward side of a large pond and that was all that saved it 
from total destruction. 

I was at the time about three miles from camp and alone. I 
had burned the grass off a narrow strip of ground as a place to 
retreat to in case of necessity, being of the opinion from the smoke 
that the prairie was on fire. The wind was blowing at the rate 
of more than thirty miles an hour at the time. I then started out 
on my work, facing the wind. I had gone two hundred rods, when 
as if by magic the fiery demon came bounding over the crest of 
a hill scarce half a mile away. The flames were leaping high in the 
air, and extended to the right and to the left in one solid wall of 
fire as far as the eye could reach. I tried to back-fire, but the 
wind was blowing so hard I could not light the grass. Then com- 
menced a race for dear life. I ran like a deer with the wind at 
my back helping me along, but the fire was gaining at every sec- 
ond. When about half way to my burnt patch, I was nearly ex- 
hausted, but one glance over my shoulder at the raging flames was 
sufficient and on I went. The fire was at my heels when I en- 
tered my burnt strip. It was not more than a rod wide, but it 
broke the force of the flames and saved me from serious and prob- 
ably from fatal injury, but my coat and hat and boots, the legs of 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 575 

which were outside the legs of my pants, were nearly ruined. Some 
idea of the speed of this fire can be had from the fact that from the 
front to the rear of the fire was fifteen rods. 

The flames were forty or fifty feet in length from the ground 
upward, and every few seconds they would assume a position al- 
most perpendicular, then the force of the wind would shoot them 
ahead and with a single leap, and in an instant of time, the crest 
of these waves of fire would strike the ground several rods in 
advance. There was little or no smoke, only a seething, roaring, 
plunging sea of fire. After the fire had passed, a jack-rabbit was 
hobbling around at random over the prairie, having been caught 
and badly burned and blinded by the fire. 

The next year while I was running the township lines in La- 
moure County, a similar fire passed through the country at night, 
but we saved our camp and ourselves by spading around our camp. 
A day or two afterwards we ran down and caught several ante- 
lope that had been caught in the fire and so badly crippled that 
they were easily overtaken b}- us. 

Alexander Henry in his journal referring to a disastrous fire 
in the Red River valley sa}s : 

November 24th, 1804: The prairies are on fire in every direction. 

November 25th, 1804: The plains are all burned over and blind 
buffalo are seen wandering in ever}^ direction. The poor beasts have all 
the hair singed off; even the skin in many places is shriveled up and ter- 
ribly burned and their eyes swollen and closed fast. 

It is really pitiful to see them staggering about, sometimes running 
afoul of a large stone, at other times tumbling down hill and falling into 
the creeks not yet frozen over. In one spot we found a whole herd lying 
dead. The fire having passed only yesterday they are still fresh and 
some of them exceedingly fat. At sunset we arrived at the Indian camp, 
having seen an incredible number of dead and dying, blind, lame, singed 
and roasted buffalo. 



Grasshoppers. 

Soon after the Fourth of July, 1871, grasshoppers in large 
numbers began to appear in the western part of Becker County. 
This was the first year that any crops had been sown of any ini- 
portance, but the season was very dry, consequently the small acre- 
age of crops was light and the grasshoppers destroyed a large 
percentage of the grain that escaped the drought. The grasshop- 
pers that year w^ere confined to the towns of Richwood, Audubon, 



576 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Lake Park, Cormorant, and the western part of Detroit. Thev did 
not stay long-, but deposited a good many eggs. In the spring of 
1872, they hatched out in large numbers, wherever an}- plowing 
had been done, more particularly on new breaking and along the 
sides of the roads. The damage to grain that year was more than 
one half, but was confined to the prairie region west of the belt 
of timber extending down through Richwood, Detroit and Lake 
Eunice. This belt of timber served as a wall of defense, over and 
beyond which they evidently did not care to go. 

The larger prairies, east of this belt of timber, such as the De- 
troit prairie and the Frazee prairie had escaped and the small 
clearings suffered but little damage, but the losses in Richwood, 
Hamden, Cuba, Audubon, Lake Park and Cormorant were sorely 
felt. The damage that year was caused mostly by the young 
hoppers, as I believe they nearly all left as soon as they were 
able to fly. In 1873, the acreage of land sown to grain was con- 
siderably increased. Swarms of hoppers came in from the west 
in June and July. They did considerable damage and deposited 
eggs in large quantities in the western part of the county, but the 
small prairies and clearings in the timbered region of the county 
escaped. 

The year 1874 was among the worst of the seven years of 
plague. Nearly everything in the shape of grain and vegetables 
along the western border of the timber belt was destroyed. Out on 
the prairies in Richwood, Hamden, Cuba, Lake Park, Audubon and 
Cormorant the damage amounted to two-thirds of the entire crop. 
On the small prairies and clearings in Lake Eunice, Detroit, Lake 
View and Burlington the damage amounted to 25 per cent. The 
small grain was cut oft' as if mowed down with a scythe. The 
silk on the ears of the corn was gnawed to the cob, so the corn 
could not mature. The "hoppers"" chewed away at growing tobacco 
until they became dizzy from the eft'ects of the narcotic, and would 
lay in small heaps around the roots of the growing plants in a 
state of stupefaction, ^'hey would eat oft' the tops of onions and 
with tears in their eyes devour the very onions themselves. About 
the only plant they shunned was the tomato, but they did not hesi- 
tate to attack the ripe fruit. The damage to crops now began to 
be severely felt by the settlers, particularly in the western part of 
the county. In the western towns there was not grain enough 
raised for home consumption. A part of the potato crop escaped 
and most of the settlers owned small herds of cattle and the hav 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 577 

crop as a general thing was not badly damaged. In the winter 
of 1874-5, many families lived largely on potatoes and milk. The 
ponds and marshes throughout the county were at that time abun- 
danth' stocked with muskrats, and they proved the salvation of the 
w^estern towns. Rat skins that winter brought better prices than 
they ever have before or since, and a large part of the population 
of Richwood, Hamden. Cuba, Lake Park, Audubon, Lake Eunice 
and Cormorant turned trappers. As high as thirty cents a skin 
was paid that winter. It was estimated that $11,000 was paid out 
for rat skins at Detroit, Lake Park and Audubon during that win- 
ter and spring. I knew Norwegians who earned between $200 and 
$300 a piece during the season. The market price for rat skins 
was quoted in the county papers weekly, the same as the price of 
wheat. 

Large quantities of grasshoppers' eggs were deposited in the 
fields and along the highways wherever the ground was bare. 
Everybody was apprehensive of a more extensive visitation of 
the pests the coming year than ever before. Public meetings were 
held to devise measures of safety, and an agreement was entered 
into by the people in the western towns that all prairie fires should 
be strictly prohibited until some day to be agreed upon later on, 
which I think was on the 5th of June, and then the whole prairie 
should be fired simultaneously. The whole population was to turn 
out to assist in spreading the fire and protecting their houses and 
stock from the flames. It was thought by that date the young 
''hoppers" would be well distributed about among the old grass, and 
it was believed that they would be almost absolutely destroyed. 
The program was carried out, but the spring of 1875 '^^'ss cold and 
backward, and the day set for the burning was rather unfavorable, 
but a great many hoppers were destroyed. The season too was 
not very favorable for hoppers, who delight in dry, hot weather, 
and large numbers of them died or flew awa}', so that a fair pro- 
portion of the crop was saved that year in this section of country, 
but in some of the states farther south the losses were tremendous. 
At the suggestion of Governor Pillsbury, a conference of gov- 
ernors of six or seven different states was called to meet at Omaha, 
Nebraska, on the 25th of October of that year, to devise measures 
by which their numbers might be diminished. 

In 1876 they were numerous, in spots. We had a long, dry 
spell of hot weather in July, with a southwest wind, which brought 
clouds of them in as it was supposed from Kansas and Texas, but 



578 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

they visited the county more in streaks than was usual. Some 
fields of grain were totally destroyed. The d'Engelbroner farm in 
Cuba was particularly unfortunate. That company had wheat sown 
that year on Sections 5 and 19 in Cuba, 33 in Atlanta, and 13 and 23 
just over the line in Clay County. The grasshoppers were their 
final undoing. They had suffered severe losses during the three 
previous years, and this year the loss was complete. 

On the 5th day of July, 1876, I was camped with a surveying 
party near the Northern Pacific Railroad, between Buft'alo and 
Tower City in Dakota Territory. We set up our tent just before 
noon and spread our blankets out on the grass to air, and were 
eating our dinner in the tent, when one of the men remarked that 
it was snowing. We all rushed outside and there the hoppers were 
coming down in millions. They had nearly ruined our blankets 
and it began to grow dark, the sun being completely hid. At this 
time we heard a train of cars coming from the west. They were 
coming up a heavy grade and their speed began to grow less and 
less, until they reached a point opposite our camp when they came 
to a dead stop. They had been stalled by the grasshoppers. Pas- 
sengers on the train told us of the Custer massacre, which was 
news to us. 

The people throughout the countr}- had become alarmed and 
discouraged. Many of them kept a close watch of the winds and 
the sky, the same as they have done in later years during a season of 
protracted drought. A practiced eye could tell when hoppers were 
flying high, by looking directly at the sun or close to it. Every- 
body was suspicious of a westerly wind, as it was liable to bring 
fresh hordes of the pests. An easterly wind was always hailed 
with delight. Their movements were always from the west to 
the east and they never came back. 

This species of grasshopper had three pairs of legs and two 
pairs of wings. Being double winged they were able to ascend 
to a very high altitude, and remain in the air for a long period at 
a time. They, however, generally depended on the wind to propel 
them along. Aside from the havoc they created with growing 
crops, they were exceedingly destructive to farming implements 
and clotliing. They would in a few short hours badly damage the 
handles of scythes and hand rakes and pitchforks. A coat or 
vest left on the fence in the morning would be ruined before noon. 
In traveling over the prairies or along the highways facing the 
wind, vou were in constant danger of being: hit In the face and 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 579 

eyes. They appeared to have a pecuHar knack of landing" on your 
naked eye with their six sharp, rough feet, all in a hunch, and giv- 
ing you a stinging blow that would shock your whole system. 
]\Iany and many a time when running lines over the prairies against 
a strong wind with my eyes fixed on some small distant object, and 
hardly daring to wink for fear of losing sight of it, some big hop- 
per would come sailing through the air with the combined speed 
of the wind and two pairs of wings and hit me in the naked eye 
with a degree of accuracy and force that was both stunning and 
exasperating. They generally deposited their eggs in bare spots 
of ground or in plowed fields, but more especially in new breaking 
and on the borders of the highways, always preferring a hard sur- 
face. The eggs were deposited about an inch in depth and I have 
found more than a dozen nests in a foot square of ground with 
from 30 to 40 eggs in a nest. Plowing the ground after thev 
were deposited usually destroyed the eggs. 

In the meantime the scourge had spread over nearly the whole 
breadth of the land, reaching from Lake Winnipeg on the north to 
the Gulf of Mexico on the south, including Manitoba, Dakota, 
Nebraska, Texas and the western half of Alinnesota, Iowa. i\Iis- 
souri and Arkansas. Immense quantities of eggs were deposited 
during the summer of 1876 throughout this entire territory. The 
spring of 1877 opened with many gloomy forebodings. The hop- 
pers were hatching in swarms along the whole line. The grass- 
hopper scourge had given Becker County, as well as the entire 
frontier, a backset and caused great suffering among the settlers. 
The pests had destroyed a large share of their crops from 187 1 
up to 1877. The pioneers had fought against them by means of 
traps of every conceivable pattern, but all in vain. The state had 
furnished tar and sheet iron for catching grasshoppers, and these 
were dealt out by the county commissioners in lil)eral (piantities 
and charged to the several towns. The state also loaned money 
to the settlers with which to buy seed grain. In many places this 
year they destroyed the young grass as fast as it grew. In July. I 
found farmers who lived in Stearns County cutting hay in the old 
cut-over pineries away east of the Mississippi River in ?\Iorrison 
County, all the grass in their meadows at home having been de- 
stroyed. Young wheat and oats and corn was destroyed as fast 
as it grew. Some localities in Becker County escaped with slight 
damage. The loss in some of the states farther south was enor- 
mous. Whole communities were almost panic stricken. Prayers 



580 A Pioneer History of Beckkr County. 

for deliverance from the scourge were offered on every Sabbath 
day in the churches. Days of fasting- and prayer were appointed 
by the governors of some of the states. 

Our own Governor Pillsbury appointed one early in July, which 
was very generally observed by the religiously inclined people 
throughout the grasshopper stricken portion of the state. Before 
the middle of the month the pests were more numerous and were 
spread over a greater extent of country than ever before. For a 
day or two the}- appeared to come in clouds from the sky. They 
came pouring in from the direction of the great plains and the 
Rocky ^Mountain regions. They had never been seen in such mul- 
titudes, but there was a certain peculiarit\- about their motions that 
was new and strange. Their actions were similar to those of a 
famil\- of tame bees when beginning to swarm. There was a hur- 
ried movement to the east of almost endless numbers. As a general 
thing they would alight on the prairies and fields at night, and in 
the morning they would be on wing, much earlier than was their 
usual custom, doing but little damage. The movement was ob- 
served and reported all along the frontier. 

Finally on one of the last days of July, 1877, just before the 
beginning of harvest, the rear of this vast army of winged destroy- 
ers passed to the east, and disappeared from view, and as far as 
Becker County and that generation was concerned, never to re- 
turn. From that day there have been no grasshoppers of that dis- 
tinctive species to be found in the county worth mentioning. Peo- 
ple could hardly believe their senses. They had disappeared from 
the whole breadth of the land in a single day. Where they went 
to no one could tell. Soon after that time a shower of them came 
down in Lake Champlain and the northern part of Vermont. A 
part of the coast of North Carolina was said to have been strewn 
with dead grasshoppers several feet in thickness for miles and 
miles. Aside from these two instances nothing was ever heard 
from them as far as I was able to ascertain. 

With the exception of a few local instances, like that at Per- 
ham, in 1886, there have been no grasshoppers of any importance 
in the C(^untry since their departure in 1877. 




C. p. WILCOX. 



HOSMER H. WILCOX. 




WILLIAM P. MCKINSTRV. BREDE ANDERSON. 

Members of the first Becker County Jury. 



^82 A Pioneer History of Bf.cki;r County. 



I 



Chapter 



XXXII. 



The First Lawsuit in Becker County. 

When I was in St. Paul in the spring of 1871, there was quite a 
breeze raised by the people of both St. Paul and Minneapolis over 
the report that a woman was going about exhibiting as a show, her 
own daughter who was only eleven years old and was herself the 
mother of a child. 

The authorities soon put a stop to this show business, but I 
noticed the family on the streets several times afterwards. The 
name of the woman was AA'ilkins and her daughter's name was 
Panola. 

I returned to Becker County soon afterwards and thought no 
more about them until the next fall, wdien to my surprise I found 
the whole family living in a comfortable log house on Section 34 
in Lake Park Township. 

Harvey Jones, one of the first settlers in P)ecker CountA' had 
married the mother of the young mother, and they were now 
all snugly housed in his new log cabin. 

Matters did not, however, run smoothly in the Jones" household 
for a very long period of time. Jones was a bachelor up to 
the time of his recent marriage, nearly fifty years old and was 
not accustomed to having his authority in domestic alTairs called 
in question. He complained that Panola and her mother were 
wasteful and extravagant and that their extravagance was backed 
up with an aggravating kind of impudence and abuse, and that 
his wife was not faithful and true. I^ater on, quarrels became 
frequent in this interesting family and the trouble finally culminated 
in Jones being arrested for administering family discipline to Mrs. 
Jones with an iron-wood sapling. A complaint was made out and 
a warrant issued by justice James G. McGrew of Audubon Town- 
ship, which was placed in the hands of Captain F. K. Small, 
constable, and Jones was arrested about the last of October, 1871. 

Excitement ran high in the neighborhood. Some of the settlers 
took sides with Jones, but more of them were on the side of 
Mrs. Jones and Panola. I was camped in the vicinity at the time, 
and heard all sides of the case and my sympathies were with 
Jones. 



A PioxEKR History of Becker County. 583 

Jones was tried before Squire McGrew and a jury of twelve 
men, and this was the first jury before which a case either civil 
or criminal was ever tried in Becker County. Here is a list of 
the jurymen : L. D. Sperry, Patrick Ouigley, Moody Cook, Charles 
P. Wiicox, Hosmer H. Wilcox, William P. McKinstry. T. R. 
Anderson. John Lewison, David Pyle, A. J. Haney. A. B. Freeman 
and Brede Anderson. 

Not a single person connected with this trial is now living" 
in Becker County. 

The jury brought in a verdict of guilty and Jones was sentenced 

to thirty days in the Otter Tail City jail. Captain F. K. Small was 

furnished with the commitment papers and he and the prisoner 

started for Otter Tail Cit}- on foot, a distance of forty-five miles. 

On the road through Detroit Township they passed the residence 

of John O. French, who was one of thee constables of that town- 

shi]) and Small made an arrangement with French to take Jones 

off his hands and deliver him to the jailer at Otter Tail City. 

When they reached Detroit village, Jones decided that he wanted 

to consult a lawyer and persuaded French to stop with him for a 

few minutes at the office of W. W. Rossman, who had just 

opened up a law office. After entering Rossman's office French 

concluded it would be a good time to get a drink of water while 

his prisoner was consulting with his attorney, so he stepped out 

for a few minutes, leaving his overcoat and the prisoner in 

Rossman's care. The commitment papers were in the overcoat 

pocket. When French returned Jones stated that he had had 

all the legal advice he wanted for the present, and they again 

started on the road to Otter Tail City. They went on for two 

or three miles down through the Detroit woods until they came 

to about where the clubhouse is now, when Jones complained of 

feeling tired and sat down by a log to rest. French soon became 

impatient and tried to get Jones up and off again, but Jones 

finally told him he had gone far enough and was going back 

home. French told him he would see whether he went back 

home or not and took him by the collar and tried to pull him 

along, but Jones would not budge an inch. Finally Jones told 

him that he wanted to see what authority he had for taking him 

to jail anyway. "Fll show you," French said as he reached for 

the pockets of his overcoat to produce the commitment papers. 

but the papers were not to be found in the overcoat pockets or 

in any other pocket. 



584 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Not having any commitment papers French conckicled he would 
have a hard time getting the prisoner off his hands at Otter Tail 
City, so they both started back home and that was the end of 
the first legal case in Becker County. 

After that Jones always held a high opinion of Squire Rossman 
as an attornev. 



Chapter XXXIII. 



COUNTY SEAT CONTROVERSY. 

At a meeting of the board of county commissioners on the 
loth of September, 1872. they passed a resolution to build a jail 
at Detroit not to exceed a cost of $2,000. \\\ H. H. Howe and 
J. E. A"an Gorden voted for it and L. G. Stevenson against it. 
At that time the board consisted of only three commissioners. 

On the 6th day of December, 1872, another meeting was held 
and W. H. H. Howe, chairman of the board and W. F. Ball, county 
attorney, were appointed a building committee to select a site and 
secure the early erection of a county jail. 

At the same meeting a contract was made and approved by the 
board by which Colonel George H. Johnston was to build a jail 
for $1,300, to be completed by July i, 1873 on lots 13 and 14, 
of block 92, Detroit Townsite. ( )n the 17th day of January. 1873. 
the board again met at Detroit, but a majority of the board were 
new meml)ers, AW A. A\'ilkins having succeeded J. E. \'an Gorden 
and W. S. Dixon taking the place of L. G. Stevenson. At this 
meeting a resolution was adopted instructing the county auditor 
to notify the parties building the jail to suspend operations. First, 
for the reason that it was doubtful if a good title could be given 
to the ground where it was to be built. Second, that the liabilities 
to be created were greater than the law authorized the commis- 
sioners to create in one year. Third, that tlie townsite of Detroit 
as platted where the jail was to be built in the township of Detroit 
is not identical with the townsite of Detroit at which the county 
seat is located by statute. The building committee was discharged 
and the chairman ordered to hand over to the county auditor all 
plans and specifications in his possession. 

About this time some one who was unfriendly to Detroit had 
made the discovery that the townsite of Detroit that was surveyed 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 585 

and platted eleven years before there was a settler in Becker 
Count)', was located at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, 
on what is now called Town Lake, and included a large part of 
the present village of Frazee, instead of at Detroit Lake in Detroit 
Township. 

Dixon and W'ilkins the two new county commissioners both 
lived in the west end of the county, the former in Lake Park Town- 
ship and the latter in Hamden, and were both in favor of Audubon 
for the county seat and were not slow in taking advantage of the 
newlv made discovery in relation to the two Detroit townsites. 

It was found that a townsite had been surveyed out at the third 
crossing of the Otter Tail River, and the plat recorded at St. 
Cloud, ]\rinn., on the 12th day of June, 1857. 

On August 30th, 1873, Colonel Johnston commenced suit against 
Becker County on jail contract. On September 3rd, 1873, the 
the board met at Detroit and commissioner A\\ S. Dixon was ap- 
]iointed by the board to employ counsel to defend the suit. 

( )n September i6th, commissioner Howe informed the board 
that he had in his possession a deed for lots 13 and 14, block 92 
of Detroit Townsite for a jail. On January 6, 1874. the board met 
at Detroit. C. P. Wilcox of Detroit took the place of W. H. 
H. Howe of Detroit. The deed for lots 13 and 14, block 92, 
tendered b}- George H. Johnston was refused and returned to the 
maker, and the bill of $1300 for building jail was rejected. The 
jail had been built since the time when he was ordered by the board 
to suspend operations. By this time the discovery of the plat of 
the Detroit Townsite that was recorded in the office of the reg- 
ister of deeds for Stearns County at St. Cloud and unmistakably 
hxing its location at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, had 
unsettled the county seat business to such an extent that people 
generally believed that there was no legal county scat. It certainly 
was not at Detroit although it might be at Frazee City which was 
doubtful. At least that was the view taken of it by the majority of 
the board of county commissioners and a majority of the county 
officers. Nearly all' of them lived west from Detroit and with the 
exce])tion of the register of deeds they all took their books, papers 
and office equipment to their homes, and their offices were scat- 
tered far and wide. The county treasurer left a deputy at Detroit, 
and the coroner, being a resident of Detroit, could generally be 
found there. The county auditor was interested in a store at 
Lake Park and there he opened up his office. 



586 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Accordingly on the 4th of June, 1874, the county commis- 
sioners met at the auditor's office at Lake Park. On the 23rd of 
June they met there again. Judge Reynolds, secretary of the 
Tyler Townsite and Land Compan}-, otlered the use of the huihl- 
ing known as the old printing" office at Detroit free of rent for one 
year for the use of the county officers. R. L. Frazee, proprietor of 
the old townsite of Detroit, at third crossing of the Otter Tail 
River, made an offer to the board to erect a building at that point 
suitable for the county officers and give it free of rent for one 
year. Both propositions were laid on the table. 

On the 5th of January, 1875, the county board met at Lake 
Park. The commissioners were W. S. Dixon, of Lake Park, C. 
P. AA'ilcox of Detroit and Thomas Torgerson of Cuba. They 
met again at Lake Park on the 27th of July, 1875. In the mean- 
time Commissioner Dixon had experienced a decided change of 
mind with reference to county seat matters. A motion was made 
and seconded that Frazee be recognized as the county seat of 
Becker County, but it received only one vote. The board met 
again on the 24th day of August, 1875, when the following resolu- 
tions were adopted : 

First, Resolved that the board of county commissioners of 
Becker Count}' proceed to provide offices for the use of county 
officers of said county, at Detroit, in Township 139, Range 41. 

Second, Resolved that the board accept the oiTer of R. Rey- 
nolds, secretary of T^der Townsite and Land Com])any of the 
building formerly occupied b}' ^Montgomery, West and Smith 
for the use of the county officers, and that they are hereby re- 
quired to move there as early as the 5th of September, 1875. 

This is the building used as a section house by the X'orthern 
Pacific Railroad for many years past and stands on the north 
side of the railroad on the east border of the village. 

Commissioners Dixon and Wilcox voted for the above resolu- 
tions and Torgerson voted against them. The board met in this 
building on November ist, 1875, for the first time. The county 
officers were mostly back with their books and papers at the 
appointed time, although they did not all stay there themselves 
with any degree of regularity. 

It was customary in those days for one county officer to do 
the work of others. The county auditor was deputy clerk of 
court, and also did the work of the judge of probate. John Mc- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 587 

Clelland. the register of deeds, had erected the building since 
owned and occupied by M. \\ V>. Davis as a boot and shoe store, 
and occupied it as his office (hiring' nearly all of his tliree terms of 
office. 

Excitement ran high all over the county for several years over 
county seat matters. Petitions had been sent to the legislature 
at nearly every session asking authority to vote on the question 
of removing the county seat to Audubon. One petition read like 
this: 

"Audubon, January 31, 1874. We, the undersigned legal voters 
of Becker County, ^^linncsota, respectfully represent that the east- 
ern half of said county will never be settled: that the town of 
Audubon is nearer the geographical center of the portion of said 
county which is now settled or will hereafter be settled than Detroit 
is: that it is the actual desire of the majority of the legal voters 
of said county that an act of the legislature be passed providing 
for a vote to l)e taken upon the removal of the county seat of said 
county from Detroit to Audubon, and we further represent that 
the Pugct Sound Land Company has never in any way or manner 
used any influence whatever to control any election in this county." 
As there were no settlers in Becker County east of the Otter 
Tail River in those days, it was for the interests of Detroit to post- 
pone the final settlement of this question by a vote of the people 
as long as possible. They accordingly fought off all these petitions 
until the winter of 1877, wdien believing themselves strong enough 
to outvote Audubon they submitted to the passage of a bill author- 
izing a vote on the question. 

When the county commissioners re-established the county seat 
at Detroit on the 24th of August, 1875, the excitement quieted 
down all over the county and there was not much heard about 
county seat matters until a few months before the election in 1877. 
In the meantime the lawsuit brought by Colonel Johnston to 
recover pay for building the jail, was decided in favor of Becker 
County on the ground that the county commissioners had exceed- 
ed their authority. They had appropriated more money for one 
item of expense than the whole legal tax levy for county revenue 
for the current year. 

The jail building stood for several years in the edge of the 
oak grove on block 92, in the north part of the village. Later 
on it was rented to the village of Detroit for a "lock up." It was 



588 A PioxEKR History of Beckisr County. 

built of two by six scantling, laid flat down, one scantling on the 
top of another, the ends crossing at the corners of the buildmg 
like the logs in a cabin. The spaces between the scantling were 
filled with other scantling of the same width and thickness, making 
a solid wall six inches thick from the foundation to the roof, and 
all spiked good and tight with forty-penny spikes driven in six 
inches apart, 'i'he following from the Detroit Record of Septem- 
ber 28, 1882, tells what finally became of the old jail: 

The village jail at Detroit was destroyed by fire on Monday night 
and Christ. Davis, confined for beating his wife, perished in the flames. 
The fire occurred at about 11 P. M. and when discovered it was too late 
to save the confined man. Davis was a hard character and had been 
recently released from the Clay County jail, having served a term for 
beating his wife some time ago. It is believed the man fired the building 
himself, either purposely or accidently. Nothing was left of the man's 
body excepting a small piece of the back-bone and head, one lung and 
part of the heart. 

The legislature of 1877 had authorized a vote to be taken on 
the question of the removal of the county seat to Audubon at the 
annual election to be held in November of that year, and as the 
time drew near excitement began to run high. To illustrate the 
state of the feeling between the people of Atttltibon and Detroit 
at the time, I will insert a part of a column from the last publica- 
tion of the Detroit Record before the election, November 3, 1S77, 
then run by Colonel Johnston : 

FRAUD! EXTORTION!! BANKRUPTCY!!! 

Voters of Becker County! Are you willing to be sold like cattle in the 
shambles? Read the following intercepted letter, written by one of the 
Audubon ring and then show by your vote you are freemen and not slaves. 

Audubon, Oct. 15th. 1S77. 

Dear : Your letter of the loth inst. is at hand. You asked me 

what will probably be the result of the vote on the county seat. I can 
tell you that we at Audubon have a sure thing. We have got all the leading 
Scandinavians on our side, and we have fooled some of the Burlington 
people to vote for us. We have the matter all fixed with the county 
commissioners so that after the election we will proceed at once to erect 
county buildings at Audubon, at an expense of $3,000, as this will not re- 
quire a vote of the people. Of course after we get the county buildings 
erected, then we are sure of keeping the county seat. 

We fear Lake Park as much as Detroit, for it is more than probable 
that if we do not succeed in carrying the election this year it may go to 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 589 

Lake Park the next time. But as I have said, we have the thing all fixed 
and we are sure to carry the day. 

Yours truly, 



Citizens of Becker County: This letter shows for itself, and explains 
the reason why the Audubon ring would not consent to have a provision 
in the bill passed by the legislature, that no buildings should be erected 
for five years. Oh, no! they propose to saddle the county with three 
thousand dollars of debt, by erecting county buildings at Audubon at once. 

Remember that the Audubon ring boasts that they will carry the 
day if they are obliged to vote every Indian on the Chippewa reserve. 

Farmers and Grangers: — Remember that Audubon is owned by a 
grasping corporation and Detroit by the people. 

Read the intercepted letter in another column and see what the modus 
operandi of the Audubon ring is. 

Remember that every vote for the removal of the county seat to 
Audubon is a vote for thousands of dollars of increased ta.xes to Becker 
County for the erection of expensive county buildings. 

Remember that the Audubon ring takes thousands of dollars out of 
the county treasury every year and don't pay twenty-five cents of taxes. 

The Audubon people were suspicious that Detroit would resort 
to fraud in carrying the election. They had accused them of gross 
irregularities at former elections when county seat matters were 
at stake, notably at the election of 1874 when R. L. Frazee was 
elected to the legislature. They tried to get some one living at 
Detroit to watch the polls in their interest. They did not succeed 
in this, but were assured that if they wished to send some one 
down from Audubon they should have fair play, if they behaved 
themselves properly. The evening before election, the town clerk 
at Detroit discovered that some one had torn down and carried 
off his poll list. This was laid to the Audubon gang as a matter 
of course, and they were undoubtedly correct. A prominent citizen 
of Detroit was at Lake Park on the dav of election working: in 
the interest of Detroit. Two citizens of Audubon, Charles Emu- 
leth and McCormick came down to Detroit to watch the polls. 
Emuleth took up a position in the voting room and proceeded to 
write down the names of an occasional voter that might or might 
not, for all he knew, be an illegal voter while McCormick did con- 
siderable superfluous talking outside. Along in the afternoon a 
man who owned a farm out in the country, but who was not a 
voter in Detroit began to persuade some of the Detroiters that it 
was a matter ill becoming to the dignity of their town to allow 



590 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

men from Audubon or anywhere else to come in and run their 
election. The result of his arguments was that three or four of the 
men addressed appointed themselves a committee to rid the town 
of those two undesirable persons. McCormick had been a little 
boisterous and aggressive, but Emuleth had not opened his mouth 
so far (luring the day as anyone knew, but the list of the names he 
was taking down had the etfect of a red rag at a bull fight. So 
the self-appointed committee without any ceremony ordered him 
to leave town inside of five minutes. They were somewhat sur- 
prised, however, when a couple of Detroit men began to take his 
part, and after their attention was called to the fact that a Detroit 
man had been at Lake Park all day working for Detroit they gave 
up their task and Emuleth was allowed to remain. Soon after- 
wards Emuleth 's papers were snatched from his hands and in an 
instant the man who did the snatching was laid flat on his back on 
the floor. Someone else, however, took the papers, and ran oft' 
with them but the judges of the election allowed him to copy such 
names as he wished from their poll list afterwards. 

For two or three weeks previous to the election a gravel train 
with its accompanying boarding cars and crew of men had been 
stationed at Detroit. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company's 
officials were supposed to favor Audubon in preference to Detroit 
as they were indirectly the owners of Audubon Townsite, either 
in whole or in part at that time. So they induced the railroad 
company to take the boarding cars away the day before the elec- 
tion. The cars were removed, but nearly all the men remained. 
The people of Detroit had arranged to board them while the cars 
were gone. Many of these men were citizens of Detroit and none 
of them lost their vote. 

The result of the election was a victory for Detroit by about 
ninety majority, and the county seat contest was undoubtedly 
settled forever. 



c.^ 





MK. AND MRS. XUB. NELSON, SR. 



MR. .A.ND MRS. NUB. NELSON, JR. 





MR. .\ND MRS. O. J. T.A.HR. 



MISS M.ARY A. H.\NSON. 



592 A PioxEER History of Becker County. 



Chapter XXXIV. 

HISTORY OF ATLANTA TOWNSHIP. 

By ^Ii?.s Mary A. Haxsox. 

The town of Atlanta, situated in the northwestern part of 
Becker County was first settled June i6, 1871, by N. N. \'iger and 
family, who drove from Fillmore County with an ox team and 
prairie schooner and settled on Section 32 of said township. 

Martin Hanson, a single man, settled on the same section the 
same year and resided there until his death in 1905. 

The next settler was O. J. Jahr and family who settled on 
Section 30 in 1872. For several years these three homes were the 
only ones in the township, but in 1876 several new families arrived 
from Wisconsin and Iowa, among which were O. ( ). Xoben, L. 
H. Hauge, H. J. Larson and others. Gradually the level prairies 
were broken up and converted into fertile fields, and groves and 
houses dotted the lonesome plains. 

January 25, 1879. the township was organized as the town of 
Martin, but the name was changed to Atlanta at the following 
meeting, March 18, 1879. 

The first town of^cers were: vSupcrvisors, O. O. N^ol)en, M. J. 
Brekke and C. G. Engebregtson ; clerk, H. J. Larson, which posi- 
tion he held for fourteen consecutive years ; treasurer, C. G. Enge- 
bregtson ; justices of the peace, J. A. Bemis, M. J. Brekke ; consta- 
bles, L. G. Engebregtson, H. A. Furuset ; poundmaster, M. \\'ahl. 

The first birth recorded in the town is that of the eldest 
daughter of John and Ellen Gunderson. 

The first school district, No. 29, was organized in the spring 
of 1880, and the first term of school was held in the home of John 
Larson and taught by Miss Carrie Larson, with an enrolInK'nt 
of twenty pu])ils. 

Since that time three more school districts have been organ- 
ized, viz. : Xos. 7,7,, 43. and 68. 

The growth of the population has been slow but steady, till 
at the present time most of the land has been taken up or bought 
by actual settlers. 

But one tragedy has occurred in Atlanta in the twenty-five 
years of its existence, viz. : that of the murder of Timan Ristvedt, 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 593 

a middle aged, single man who resided on his farm on Section 10. 
On the evening of Xovember 8, 1897, he was found lying dead 
near the barn which had been set afire by the murderer. 

This was perhaps the most sensational murder case ever tried 
in Becker County. After a long trial the suspected murderer 
was acquitted for want of evidence and the case remains a mystery 
to this day. 

On June 9, 1903, a cyclone passed over the central part of the 
town destroying nearly a dozen homes and the large Norwegian 
church which had just been completed. One person, Mrs. O. 
Berg, an old lady lost her life in the storm. 

The earlier settlers of Atlanta were Scandinavians with the 
exception of two or three families, and during the first twenty 
years or more there were few changes excepting as new settlers 
were added from time to time, but toward the close of the nineties 
a number of transfers of real estate brought a considerable German 
element into the township. 

On the wdiole the history of the township while uneventful has 
been a prosperous one. The bleak prairies of twenty-five years 
ago now are fertile fields, and the sod shanty is replaced by the 
commodious farm buildings. 

Atlanta was so named from the resemblance its undulating 
surface bears to the Atlantic Ocean. 

AIary a. H.^nson. 



OLE O. NOBEN. 
Ole O. Noben was born in Slidre, Valders, Norway, Aug. 14, 1835. 
He came to America in 1851 and settled in Dane County, Wis., afterwards 
removing to Decorah, Iowa, in 1854, where on Sept. 16, 1859, he married 
Christina Lien. Coming to- Becker County in the early days lie took a 
homestead in Atlanta, where he has ever since made his home. A man 
of education, and of energetic, progressive disposition, he did much in 
the development of the northwestern part of the county. His homestead 
of virgin prairie has been converted into one of the best farms in Becker 
County, with a fine grove, substantial buildings and productive fields, 
and in every way betokening the energy and thoughtfulness of its owner. 
He was always an advocate of good roads, and he was ever at the front 
in every movement for public improvement and good schools in his home 
town. In politics he was a lifelong Republican, and ever since coming to 
the county he has taken part in the councils of his party. In the fall 
of '96 he was elected to the ofSce of register of deeds, and served with 
ability until last January, having been re-nominated, but defeated by a 
verv few votes at the last election. Mr. Noben had been a resident of 



594 -^ Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

this county about twenty years, and has figured prominently in the affairs 
of his own town, and of the county. 

He died of heart disease, on the i8th day of June, iSgg, at his home 
in Atlanta. — Detroit Record. 

Mrs. West. 



Chapter XXXV. 

HISTORY OF WALWORTH TOWNSHIP. 

By Aep.ert E. IIigdie. 

Being one of the first settlers in the town of Walworth, I will 
relate some of my early day and pioneer experiences. In the 
fall of 1878, I, with my wife and one son six months old, left 
the home of my childhood in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, and 
started west in search of homestead land. W'e landed in Audubon 
and during- the winter of 1878-79 kept the Audubon Hotel, and 
in March, 1879, filed on the northeast quarter of Section 22, Town- 
ship 142, Range 43 and on the first of June we moved on for actual 
settlement. The nearest neighbor was eight miles away. O. O. Noben 
in Atlanta. At that time Walworth and Atlanta were organized 
into one township and called Atlanta. In the fall and winter of 
1879, three families consisting of my two brothers and myself built 
a shanty on the south branch of the Wild Rice River and spent our 
first winter of pioneering. That winter was very cold and the snow 
deep. We hauled our wood from the Wild Rice River, a distance 
of fifteen miles and without any such roads as we have now. There 
was only a stage road going from the Wild Rice River to Lake 
Park. In the spring several settlers moved on claims they had 
taken. Among the first was Anthony Johnson on Section 8, and 
the Morks. There were several of the Mork brothers and sisters, 
and their families still reside on Section 34. Their father died in 
an early day, and their mother died in 1904. having lived a very 
useful and helpful life, always ready to lend a helping hand to 
the sick, which was very needful in an early day for many times 
a doctor could not be had within twenty-five miles. All the old 
settlers called for Grandma IMork in tiiue of sickness. 

Our town meetings were at first held jointly with Atlanta, and 
the first one we attended was at O. O. Noben's house a distance 
of ei^ht miles. The heavv Sfrowth of grass afforded a good 




ALBERT E. HIGBIE. 



MRS. A. E. HIGBIE. 





CLAUD E. HIGBIE. 



FRANK E. HIGBIE. 



596 A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 

hiding place for the mosquitoes which made travel nearly im- 
possible without a smudge. 

In the year 1882, it became necessary to divide the two town- 
ships, and the petition being completed it was handed to me to 
be sent in. I suggested if no objection were raised that it be 
named Walworth, after a beautiful prairie county in Wisconsin. 
In an early day every little slough was filled with water and wild 
ducks and geese were numerous. The sand-hill crane was a com- 
mon bird, and occasionally a deer or moose would be seen grazing 
with the stock on the open prairie. 

Our town being new, it was noted for its hunting grounds, 
and hunters came from many different states, and put up with 
what poor accommodations could be had for the sake of the hunt- 
ing. I remember well a large white crane that was shot by W. E. 
Reid, of Detroit. The bird was mounted and is now on exhil)ition 
in a hotel office at Wadena. One morning as I went to my sod 
barn, directly back of it sat a flock of about seventy-five geese in 
the tall grass. The only gun I owned was an old army muzzle 
loading musket. I loaded that to the brim, and let drive at them 
and the result was that five large geese fell but I was the loser 
of one front tooth as it was nearly as dangerous to be behind it 
as in front, for it would kick like a mule. We encountered many 
hardships and numerous persons became discouraged and left, but 
what still remain are well-to-do farmers. 

The prairie lands of Walworth as they appeared twenty-seven 
years ago seemed little fit for habitation, but their present thriv- 
ing condition has been accomplished by hard work and good judg- 
ment. The settlers that have lived through it are now happy and 
that much wiser for the experience they have had. 

In the year 1882, a log schoolhouse was built on Section 21. 
This answered the purpose for school, town hall and church. Miss 
Christina Johnson was the first teacher to wield the rod. Miss 
Lizzie Hunt the second, and Fred L. Day of Audubon succeeded 
her. The attendance was very small on account of the distance 
to walk and poor roads, and many days there was not a scholar in 
attendance. 

On such an occasion Mr. Day would frequently go to his board- 
ing house and play checkers. On one of those occasions, Mr. 
Chapin, county superintendent, happened to visit the school, but 
all old timers know that checkers was Mr. Chapin's favorite game, 
and he soon took a hand in with him. In those days we only had 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 597 

four or five months school in tlie year, only just what the law 
required to get state aid, but now we have four good school build- 
ings in the township, each of which has school from eight to ten 
months in the year. 

After a heavy growth of grass in the summer months, the fol- 
lowing fall the prairie fires would sweep along at the rate of forty 
miles an hour and with only now and then a little patch of break- 
ing to check its speed. 

For many years the nearest post-office and market was Lake 
Park, a distance of fifteen miles, but now we are blessed with a 
railroad station, rural free delivery and a nearby market. All the 
old settlers came with very little money, but lots of courage and 
energy for which they have reaped the benefit, for now it has 
the name of being one of the finest towns in the county. A fine 
prairie country covered with beautiful groves planted twenty-five 
years ago with our own hands and land valued at $30 per acre, 
and fine buildings and windmills and everything that helps to make 
farm life a pleasure. We think all have been amply repaid and 
have no complaints to ofifer. 

FATAL AND DESTRUCTIVE WIND STORM JUNE qth. 

Strikes Eastern Clay and Western Becker Counties. — Five Killed and $20,000 
Worth of Property Destroyed. 

For the first time, people of this locality beheld the destructive efifects 
of cyclonic winds. 

The storm originated north of Ulen Monday evening at 5:30 p. m. 
and passed in a southeasterly direction through the southwest corner 
of the town of Walworth and the northern part of Atlanta carrying death 
and destruction throughout its ten mile course. 

In the town of Ulen and three miles north of the village of Ulen four 
children of the family of Mr. Hoiuni were killed and six dwellings destroyed. 
— June II, igo2. 



Albert E. Higbie. 

He was one of the old settlers of Walworth Township, and was 
born in Rome, Wisconsin, June 26th, 1851, and was the son of 
William and Emma Higbie. He was married in 1874 to Dora 
Tallmadge. Mrs. Higbie was born in Amsterdam, New York, 
May I2th, 1858, and was the daughter of Henry and Jane Tall- 
madge. Two children have been born. Claude E. was born in 
Wisconsin, in 1878, and came with his parents to Walworth when 



598 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

six months old. Frank E., was born in Walworth, July 25th, 1881, 
and was the first cliild born in the township. 



I 



Anthony Johnson. 

Anthony Johnson settled on Section 8 in the township of 
Walworth in the spring of 1880, and has resided there continuously 
ever since. He now owns a fine farm, and has filled many township 
offices with honor to himself and advantage to the township. 



N. P. Johnson. 
Among the old settlers I will mention N. P. Johnson who 
settled on Section 8, in an early day, and has held several town- 
ship offices, and P. P. Berg who came from Audubon in the year 
1882, located on Section 28, and has taken an important part in 
township and school matters. He now has a fine farm on which 
are fine buildings surrounded by a grove of evergreen and fruit 
trees. 



John Anderson. 

John Anderson came in the early eighties but sold his farm 
three years ago, and went back to Denmark to stay, but after a 
year came back here and said Walworth was sfood enougrh for him. 



The first town meeting held in Walworth after being set ofif 
from the town of Atlanta was at the school house on Section 21. 
on the third day of April, 1883. Anthony Johnson was elected 
town clerk ; Simon Jenson. A. E. Higbie and L. Johnson, super- 
visors ; N. A. Narum, justice of the peace and O. Benson, constable. 
The town was bonded for $150 to improve the highways. The 
first death in the town was Frederick Alork, infant son of Anna 
and Frederick ATork. 

Albert E. Higbie. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



599 



Chapter XXXVI. 



HISTORY OF ERIE TOWNSHIP. 

The township of Erie was named by settlers from Buffalo 
Erie County, New York, in honor of that same county of Erie. 

Erie is, or rather was, a heavily timbered township. In the east 
half there was considerable pine, some of it the best I ever saw. 
The other part was timbered with hard and soft wood. Talk 




AI.rRED MEILIE. 



about pine! A little west of where the Otter Tail River bridge 
is at present, a person could not see the sun in the daytime, the 
trees were so large and tall. Some of the remaining" stumps can 
give you an idea of what the trees were. 

Erie corners on the southwest near the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road, on the northeast not far from the beautiful Height of Land 
Lake, is joined on the north by Holmesville and two miles from 
!Rock Lake, and on the south by Burlington ; the Otter Tail River 
leaving the town in Section 36. 



6oo A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

1871 to 1877. 

The first squatter was evidently a trapper by the name of 
McKenzie, on Section 20. The first actual settler, or at least 
the first one to build a house, was INIiles Hanna who settled on 
the southwest quarter of Section 30 in the summer of 1872. In 
May, 1873, ^^ ^'"id his son worked on the Clearwater drive where 
he was accidently poisoned by eating the root of the wild parsnip 
or poison hemlock. He was a soldier of the civil war, and one 
of the jurymen who tried Bobolink for the murder of the Cook 
family. 

That same fall C. E. Brown built a small log house on the 
southwest quarter of Section 18. The next year 1873, the follow- 
ing settlers took claims in Erie and built houses on them : James 
T. Bestick on the northwest quarter of Section 30, Richard Huck 
on the northeast quarter of Section 30, Kimball Hayden on the 
northwest quarter of Section 18, A. J. Farnsworth on Section 20 
where James Norris afterwards lived and George Neuner took 
the southwest (|uarter of Section 30 formerly occupied by Miles 
Hanna. These were about all the settlers in Erie until 1876 or '/"/ 
when the Buflr'alo people came in and took up all of the western 
part of the township. 

After the Centennial Exposition, in 1876, there were hard times 
in the East. Common laborors' wages were only seventy-five 
cents a day, and only three-quarter time at that ; also a great 
scarcity of employment. 

A man by the name of Whitson C. Darling, (by the way the 
biggest rascal unhung) a Canadian, who had been to Detroit, 
Minnesota, came to ButTalo, and hired a German saloon-keeper, 
Fred Disse. Darling made speeches in English and Disse in 
the German language. He told us there were car shops at De- 
troit, four or five big hotels, and lots of work at two dollars a day, 
also nice farms for sale very cheap. This last was true enough. 
In some of his lectures he said that the snow fall in Becker Coun- 
ty was not more than six inches, and that stock grazed in the 
open fields until away along in January or February. Well, he 
caught a good many suckers ; he would take their property in 
Buffalo in exchange for improved farms. Then he was careful 
to get the Buffalo property safely deeded over but some of the 
parties are waiting for their farms yet. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 



6oi 



We left Buft'alo, about twenty-two families, on the 5th of 
May, 1877, by steamboat, for Duluth. We were laid up a week 
in Cleveland on account of the ice. At last we struck Duluth on 
the 22nd of May, a forsaken and deserted looking place. A few 
thousand dollars at that time would have bought a good slice 
of Duluth. 

We arrived at Frazee on the 25th of May, 1877. R. L. Frazee 
was all kindness to us. He gave us the use of a stove and a 
laree frame buildmo- for shelter. The next day the most of our 




LIZZIE SCHULTZ. 



MR. A^D MRS. GEORGE NUENER 



men went a-fishing by the sawmill. Well, it was a wonder the 
fish they all brought in. I am certain that two or three frying- 
pans were kept constantly in action. On the 26th I walked to 
Detroit to see the great city. Well, I found on the north side 
of the railroad track a little town, one saloon and two small ho- 
tels, and on the south side eight or nine houses, a little bank and 
a store, also a drug and whisky store combined, also the North- 
ern Pacific Hotel, where I found some beds made on the floor with 



6o2 A PioNEKR History of Becker County. 

straw, and two men from Buffalo that came on a boat that 
left ten days after we did. I returned to Frazee that evening and 
reported. The next day a lot of us left for Detroit. Some of 
them got into the empty hotel and other empty houses. I rented 
the Archie McArthur place near Col. Johnston's flour mill at 
the mouth of the Pelican River. I then looked around for some 
land and finally got stranded on the northwest quarter of Section 
6 in the town of Erie. 1 will tell of my farming some other 
time. The grasshoppers had been in the country in 1876, and 
ever}'thing' was scarce. Many of the old settlers wanted to sell 
out. but the most of the newcomers had none or but little monc}' 
to buy with. Flour was five dollars a barrel, potatoes 50 to 90 
cents a bushel and hard to get at that. 

The actual settlers then living in the town of Erie were Kim- 
ball Hayden on Section 18. Eli Hodder on Section 30. John Ber- 
tram on vSection 30. Mike Soldner on Section 30, Jerome Farr 
and O. Sims on Section 34. 

Ten or twelve families got disgusted; the women and children 
were sent back on the Northern Pacific Railroad, the men started 
on foot for Duluth. and I don't know what ever became of them. 

In ( )ctober, 1877, the following newcomers were settled in 
Erie: Mrs. Schraska and four children; Mr. A. Stackelhouse, 
wife and children ; A. Schnitzer. wife and three children ; A. INFatz- 
dorf. wife and eight children. In the spring of 1878 there came 
the following: Jacob Krick. wife and daughter Barbar}' ; Fred 
Disse, wife and two children ; Bartholomew Tveithiser. wife and 
two children ; Baptiste Graff and wife ; Julien Zeck. wife and two 
children ; James Xorris. wife and three children ; John A\'inkler. 
wife and three children ; John Eides ; Peter Fisher, wife and six 
children ; M. Smith, wife and fixe children ; John liehuke. wife and 
one child, and B. Fisher. These were about all the settlers in 
the town, before it was organized. 

As I mentioned before, I located on the northwest quarter of 
Section 6. A. ]\Iatzdorf and myself went out into the town east 
of Detroit, now Erie, where we found Mr. Kimball Hayden living 
on Section 18, and he went with us, a mile and a half north to 
Section 6. where I took my land, and Matzdorf also took the 
southwest cpiarter of Section 6. In a few days Alatzdorf moved 
into the "Betty Brown" house on Section 18 until he could build 
a house of his own. I hired Jake Schafer to help me and built 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 603 

myself a log house. Just before that I cut out a road from the 
southwest corner of Section 6 to my place. 

Erie was first organized into one school district which took 
in the entire township. The first officers of the district were : 
Bartholomew Leithiscr, director; James Norris, clerk; and Al- 
fred ]\leili, treasurer, and he has held the office of treasurer ever 
since. ]\Iiss May Chapin. now Mrs. John Whittemore, taught 
the first school in the schoolhouse on Section 29, and Miss Cad 
Dix, now Mrs. Arthur Blanding. taught the first school in the 
schoolhouse on Section 18. 

Accidents in the town of Erie have been few. Once in a 
while a settler would fall out of his wagon going home from De- 
troit, which I suppose was owing to the bad condition of the 
roads. 

The first man hurt otherwise was M. Higgins who broke his leg 
by the fall of a tree while working for Eli Hodder. 

The first death was that of Miles Hanna but he died away 
from home. The first person to die within the limits of the 
township was George Neuner who died at his home on Section 
30 on the 9th day of January, 1875. He was the father of John 
and Firank Neuner. The Xeuner family came to Becker County 
on the 29th day of March, 1873, with ]\Irs. Trimlet and her son 
William, and they were the first installment of the Buft'alo colony. 

The first woman that died was Mrs. Louisa Stackelhouse, on 
the 19th of May, 1878. 

In 1880' Louisa Furcht was married to William Fischer. They 
have today a married daughter and two grandchildren. The first 
white girl born in Erie was Lizzie Schultz, now Mrs. AA'illiam 
Lindner. The first white boy born was William Bertram. 

A. H. AMlcox built the first bridge across the Otter Tail River 
in 1873, oi^it of ^ state appropriation of about $800, the bridge it- 
self costing $340. 

Game was plentiful in those days ; bears, deer and wild cats. 
Grouse were as plentiful then as common chickens are now. A 
person could hear them drumming around every day. Deer I was 
certain to meet in the fall of the year whenever I went to get 
my cattle home, and I could see them most any day around my 
fifteen acre lake. 

Here is a bear story and a true one. In the spring of 1884 
a big bear went into my pig pen to get some pork. I had two 



6o4 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

hog's of about two hundred pounds weight apiece. ^ly wife with 
the lantern and myself with a Remington rifle chased Mr. I'ear 
ofif but he had one hog killed or so badly hurt that it was dead 
when we went to take a look in the morning. The bear also made 
his appearance in the yard. I was going to help Charles Schnitzer 
break some land, so I put the pig under cover until night. To- 
ward evening Schnitzer and I took the pig and fastened it with 
a heavy log chain to a small tree, across the road west of the house. 
We then went in the house to get our shooting sticks, and when 
we came out Mr. Bear was in full view and by good luck we shot 
him dead on the spot. He measured about six feet in length, 
but, holy Ceasar ! his meat was just like mush: hardly tit to eat. 
He was old and had probably just come out of his winter's sleep. 
I sold the hide to W. Hayden for sixteen dollars, but never got 
but tw^o dollars. 

There have been no great crimes committed in Erie so far as 
I know. Chris Weiks while out hunting about eight vears ago, 
found the well kept skeleton of a man. near the southwest corner of 
Section 19, about twenty-five rods east of the Erie road. There 
was never any identification, or any case made out of it. but it is 
my opinion that as the place was a general camping ground for 
people going to and from Dakota that the man may have licen 
killed in a quarrel, or for his money. 

I will tell a little story that happened in 1886. showing the way 
we used to vote. The Australian system was not then in use. On 
the morning of the second Tuesday in November, Mr. Jerome Farr 
came early to vote. He had three sons who were voters and a 
hired man. These four men had to go away on some urgent cam- 
paign business, so Farr took the four tickets, all of the same kind 
and put them in an envelope, sealed it in the presence of the judges 
and put it into the ballot box. In the evening these ballots were 
counted the same as the others. 

The township of Erie was organized on the 18th day of August, 
1878, and the first town election w^as held on that date at the house 
of Fred. Disse. The first township officers were : Chairman of 
board of supervisors, Alfred Meile ; supervisors, Fred. Disse, and 
James Norris ; clerk, Kimball Hayden. 

About eight years ago Julius W'eirach was accidentally 
drowned in Long Lake. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 605 

The lo5:ii^ino- dam on the southwest quarter of Section 12 
known as the Hubbell dam was l)uilt by R. L. Frazee, early in 
the summer of 1876. He cut several hundred thousand feet of 
pine logs on Section 5 and 6. in the town of Height of Land, 
and floated them down the river that same summer. 

The expenses of the town of Erie for one year, 1880 and 1881 
were $74.88. In another year, 1903 and 1904 they were $650.34. 

Alfred Meiije. 



John Frederick Disse. 

Mr. Disse was born in Germany on the first day of November, 
1819. He immigrated to America in 1847, settling in the then 
small city of Buffalo, New York, and resided there twenty-seven 
years, when with a colony of his countrymen, and fellow towns- 
men he came west a few years after the completion of the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad and settled in Detroit. After living in De- 
troit for a year or two he removed to his homestead in the town 
of Erie, where he lived on the farm, and has made his home ever 
since. Mr. Disse was a man of energy and a man of influence, 
respected in the tow'n in which he lesided, and wherever he was 
known. 

Mr. Disse died on the 15th day of September, 1899. — Detroit 
Record. 

Mrs,. \\'est. 



6o6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter XXXVII. 



HISTORY OF HOLMESVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

The first settler in what is now the township of Hohnesville 
was Swan Olund who settled on the southwest quarter of Section 
6 on the 9th day of January, 1871, and is still living" on the same 
land. 

I do not think any one settled in Holmesville after him until 
in the fall of 1873. when J. R. Philips settled on the northwest 
quarter of Section 32, William Pollard settled on the northwest 
quarter of Section 30, H. A. Poor on the northwest quarter of 
Section 30, and a man by the name of Heath on the southeast quar- 
ter of Section 30. Early in the spring of 1874, C. H. Whipple 
located on the southwest cpiarter of Section 30, Lewis Benson 
on southwest quarter of Section 18. and A. H. Wentworth on the 
southwest quarter of Section 18. Wentworth died in July, 1874. 
and George Yourex took his land the same fall, and in the spring 
of 1875 sold it to Robert Miller, and Miller sold it to Henry 
Owen after he had made final proof. Owen came in June 1875. 

George Dorman settled on the southeast quarter of Section 
28, in 1875, 'i^'^l Jo- JMachner on the northeast quarter of Section 
32, in 1882, and E. E. Johnson settled on the northwest quarter 
of Section 34, in August of the same year, and W. J. Clyde about 
1878 settled on Section 20. The remainder of the township has 
since been settled up, principally with Swedes and Norwegians 
and Germans, among whom are Charles E. Maguey, Sivert John- 
son, E. A. Wagner. 

Swan Olund, the first settler, and Louis Benson are the only 
ones who came into the township in the seventies who still re- 
main so far as T know, and C. H. Whipple and Mrs. Angeline 
Miller, formerly Mrs. Henry Owen, both now living in Detroit, 
are the only others of the old settlers now remaining in the 
country. 

On the 19th day of March, 1889, the township of East Rich- 
wood was organized, but the name was soon afterwards changed 
to Holmesville in honor of Hon. E. G. Holmes. 



A PioNEiiR History of Beckkr CoUxMTy. 607 

The first township election was held at the house of George 
Dorman on the southeast quarter of Section 28, on the date above 
mentioned. The following set of township officers were elected 
at that time : 

Chairman of board of supervisors, C. L. Bostwick ; supervisors, 
George Dorman, Anuind A. Momb ; township clerk, Barney 
Meischner ; treasurer, Ernest Wag'ner ; assessor, A\'illiam Pollard, 
justices of the peace, John P. Momb, Elizer Schisco, John Nelson ; 
constable, William Hilbrand. 

AVilliam Pollard left the country before the time for making 
the assessment arrived and Ernest Wagner was appointed asses- 
sor in his place. 

The first people to get married in Holmesville were Swan 
Olund and Emma Anderson, who were married on the loth of 
May, 1878, by the Rev. John P. Nelson. 

The first child born in the township was William Pollard, son 
of William and Sarah Pollard, who was born on the i6th day of 
January, 1874. 

The first death in the township was that of A. H. Wentworth, 
who located on Section 28, southwest quarter, in March, 1874, and 
died on the 24th of July, 1874. 

Thirty-six years ago the Buffalo River and its connecting 
lakes through the township of Holmesville was a picturesque 
stretch of water. Before the Richwood dam was built there was 
at least seven feet fall between Buff'alo Lake and Tamarack Lake, 
where it is now nearly all dead water. At that time Buffalo Lake 
was half a mile shorter, twenty rods narrower and seven feet 
shallower than at the present time. 

Between Buff'alo Lake and the lake on Sections 8 and 17 there 
was a fine stream of water 40 rods long, 30 feet wide, and two feet 
deep, with stony bed and beautiful banks timbered with oak, rock 
elm, maple and basswood. There was a good fording place then 
where the long high bridge now stands over eight or ten feet 
of water. 

The outlet to Rock Lake was not more than four rods long 
and two rods wide and three feet deep, with low, well wooded 
banks, and was one of the loveliest spots in all this region of 
country. Rock Lake was smaller by at least a hundred acres than 
at the present time. 



6o8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Notwithstaiuling' the large amount of water held back by the 
Richwood dam, and the large amount of land overflowed, it is 
doubtful if the back water ever reached Tamarack Lake, for that 
lake is a foot lower than it was thirty-six years ago. At that there 
was no outlet of open water to the lake, as a floating bog lOO rods 
wide, and covering an area of more than lOO acres, obstructed the 
outlet. In walking over this bog at that time you would sink in 
the water and bog above your ankles at every step. Xow it is 
good hard n;?ado\v land. 

A ditch was cut through this bog by James Campbell of the 
Richwood sa^vmill for the i)urpose of floating out saw logs in 1882. 

Thomas Jones wdio had charge of this work says: 

We began work on the Tamarack Lake ditch about the loth of May, 
1882. We began at the commencement of the open water in the Buffalo 
River a little south of the corner to Sections 23, 24, 25 and 26 and cut 
across the bog to the open water in Tamarack Lake a distance of more 
than a quarter of a mile. There were seven of us, and we cut the ditch 
ten feet wide and four feet deep, which was the deptli of the bog. 

It only lowered the water two or tlirco indies at the time. 

The w'ater, however, continued slowly and steadily to fall for 
a long time, but never ([uite getting down the level of the Rich- 
wood mill-dam. 

I am indebted to Mr. E. Rumery, formerly of Richwood, but 
now of Detroit, for much of the information in this article with 
reference to the earlv settlers. 






fs 




^ ; 





J. F. SIEGFORD. 



MAJOR S. S. MCKINLEY. 




MR. AND MRS. A. \V . SANDERSON. 



6io A Pione;e;r History of Beckkr County. 

Chapter XXXVIII. 

HISTORY OF OSAGE TOWNSHIP. 

By J. F. SiEGFORD. 

Just as Moses of old led the Israelites toward the promised 
land, just so did J. F. Siegford lead an exodus from Xorthern Iowa 
and Southern Minnesota toward the Third Prairie. But he did 
better than Moses, for he not only entered the promised land, but 
made proof and has continued to reside on said land ever since. 

On the tenth day of June, 1879, with my son G. F. Siegford, 
George M. Carson, C. E. Bullock and A. W. Sanderson, with Joe 
Sombs as cruiser, I started northward from Verndale, headed for 
the Shell Prairies. The advance guard on the line of civilization 
at that time was one Alex. Cook, whose home was only ten miles 
north of Verndale. After leaving his place, we proceeded north- 
ward sixty miles through an unbroken forest, and across the first 
and second Shell Prairies, and so well pleased were we with the 
beautiful surroundings and the fertility of the soil of the Third 
Prairie that we at once decided that here was our Eldorado, and 
here we would make our homes and await the coming of civilization, 
which we felt sure would not be far in the future, when the richness 
and the beauty of this region became known. 

Carson, G. F. Siegford and myself, took homesteads on Section 
18, Sanderson on section 20, while Bullock located in the town 
west. Our next move was to come to Detroit to make our fil- 
ings, and in order to reach the land office we tramped over an 
Indian road through the forest to White Earth Agency, thence 
south twenty-two miles to Detroit. Returning to our claims later 
in the summer, we erected the regulation "claim shanties" and 
made such preparations as we could for the arrival of our families 
in the spring, and in Mrv of the following year we were all back 
in Verndale, Geo. M. Carson, wife and three children, my son Geo. 
F. Siegford, wife and three children, and myself and wife. I had 
purchased a mule team, paying $415 for the same, and as we 
started upon our journey, one wagon loaded with provisions, such 
furniture as we had, clothing, etc.. etc., to say nothing of the six 
children, three women and three men, the appearance of our outfit 
:an be better imagined, perhaps than described. We were obliged 
to cut a road through the woods from Cook's, and were five days 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. ' 6ii 

in reaching the prairie. A\'e went to work at once, my son using 
the mules in breaking" and in hauling" the necessary material from 
X'erndale, making fourteen trips during the summer. I returned 
to A erndale, where I worked at my trade, carpentering as a means 
of support to our families, who were, of course, unable to derive a 
dollar in revenue from the farms. ]^Ir. Carson ren"iained upon the 
prairie during the summer, and in the fall devoted his attention to 
locating other settlers who had now begun to come in consider- 
able numbers; The first and second prairies also settled up rapid- 
Iv. and during the next w"inter, that of 1880-81, there were about 
eighty families there. Immigration was stopped early in the fall, 
lioweA^er, by the memorable snow-storm of October i6th, when 
there was a snowfall of fully two feet on the level in the timber, 
aiid this was followed only two weeks later by another storm of 
equal severity. Right here began the real hardship of those who 
had cast their lot upon the Shell Prairies; supplies of provisions 
were very limited, and with the great depth of snow^ it was next to 
impossible to replenish them, and when on January 27th another 
great snowfall occurred, this little band was practically shut out 
from the rest of the world. ^ly son and myself were in Verndale 
when this January snow-ston"i"i came, and were detained there two 
weeks before we dared venture to return to our families, who, 
though well supplied with provisions, were feared to be suffering 
for want of fuel. After two weeks of anxious waiting", however, 
Frank ventured to make the trip, making it on snowshoes. When 
within a half mile of home, so nearly exhausted had he become 
that he was unable to proceed farther and was obliged to spend 
the night there ; iinally reaching home in safety, he found that two 
friendly Indians had come along on snowshoes and had kindly re- 
plenished the supply of fuel. In reaching home he had traveled 
twenty miles on a logging" road, then for lift}' miles he was obliged 
to force his way through an unbroken blanket of snow four feet in 
depth. Until this time our wives had been in mortal fear of the 
red men, but in that time of anxiety and dire necessity they had 
no thought of fear of their visitors, who were supplied with food 
and in return supplied an abundance of fuel and attended to the 
out-of-door work. There was much actual suft'ering upon the 
prairies during that long, cold winter; provisions were short, and 
the mystery has always been how some of the settlers managed 
to live. A number owe their lives to the fact that Frank Horr, 



6i2 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

who had come upon the prairies in the fall, had brought a load of 
ordinary and rather a poor grade of wheat bran ; when the snow 
became so deep that an attempt to obtain supplies at Verndale, 
the nearest railroad station, was not to be thought of, the bran 
was used by the settlers, who converted it into bread, gruel, 
cakes, etc., and were thereby enabled to sustain life. Since that 
time there have been years of hardship, but there has been no such 
genuine suffering. 

The first white man who saw this country was the early trapper. 
Every creek gives evidence of the industrious beaver, that raised 
the water level and made nearly all the meadow lands here. I)Ut 
these aml)itious little meadow^ makers are all extinct, like the men 
who caused their destruction. 

The township of ( )sage is slightly rolling. Three-fourths of 
is does not vary twenty feet in altitude. It verges into hills on 
the northeast, and the Straight and Shell Rivers in the south and 
.southwest. 

Before the removal of the pine. Straight Lake, the head of 
Straight River was very beautiful. It was noted for its beautiful 
fringe of pine, spruce, balsam and birch. It is a body of water 
about three miles long, and one hundred and twenty rods wide. 
During the spring of i88i a dam was put across the river about 
a mile below the outlet, which raised the lake twelve feet, thereby 
killing all the standing pine near the water and so its beauty was 
lost. 

The water in this lake is pure and deep. Pike, bass, crappies, 
pickerel, channel cat and sunfish are always to be found. 

The outlet of this once lovelv lake runs nearly due east, hence 
its name. Straight River, and it is remarkable for its swiftness ; 
during the winter its course can be noted by the steam rising 
from the running water which changes the temperature several 
degrees. vSprings also break out all along its course. 

Nearly all of these carry iron in solution, which forms iron- 
oxide when it comes in contact with the air. The water level 
varies with the lake. All ponds, bogs and wells in the vicinity 
maintain the same level, and the quality of pure, clear, cool water 
with just a trace of iron and lime is not surpassed in the United 
States. 

The timber of Osage Township upon the hilly land was mostly 
Norway and white pine, but the level portion, except the prairie, 



A Pioneer History oi- Bkcker County. 613 

was covered with jack pine, which was thought in an early day to 
be worthless, but now ranks first in lath and shingles, and nearly 
all kinds of lumber is made from it. The price of jack pine logs 
is low, but when one buys lumber, he buys a mixture of it and 
other timber. 

These woods in an early time were filled with game. Moose 
and deer were plentiful, and venison formed the menu of the early 
settler's bill of fare. As late as 1895 Mr. G. K. Siegford killed a 
bull moose in his barn-yard. 

The whole township is overrun with the white rabbit or northern 
hare, which forms the diet of both timber wolves and coyotes. Bear 
were found in the hilly land, as they seek the hardwood timber 
of the clay land, while the raccoon also shared their company. 
The bobcat or wildcat still inhabit these woods. Mink, otter, 
weasel and muskrat finish the list of fur bearers, and the striped 
and gray gopher, together with the chipmunk, make things lively 
for the farmer in early spring. 

In the priority of settlement there was none, as J. F. Siegford, 
G. F. Siegford, G. M. Carson and A. W. Sanderson fixed their loca- 
tion in June, 1879, and as soon as they found the proper officers, 
filed homestead entries or declaratory statements. 

The settlement was nearly likewise. The two Messrs. Sieg- 
fords and Carson moved upon their land the same day, April 9th, 
1880. 

The following is the list of those who settled during the sunmier 
of 1880 and 1 881 : 

In 1880— April 9th, J. F. Siegford, G. F. Siegford, G. M. Car- 
son; June loth, A. W. Sanderson; later, Nat Lechman, John 
Hauser, Edelbert S. Frazier, Peter Sartin, Christ Minke, August 
Retzloff, Wm. Grant, Frank George, Frank Tooley, Wm. Bate- 
man and ]\Iat Gerry. 

In 1881— Edward Peets, Mrs. P. B. Sackett, Mr. Minert, John 
Gillian, S. S. McKinley, Warner McKinley, J. D. Pratt, Ambrose 
Mann, Ambrose Mann, Jr.. J. W. Hawkins and Peter ^Mclntyre. 
During the fall of 1880 Edward Evans squatted upon the 
southwest quarter of Section 19. Here upon the banks of Shell 
River the first white child was born, a girl, Lulu Evans, who now 
resides in the state of Washington. 



6i4 A Pione;er History of Becker County. 

When A. W. Sanderson moved upon his homestead June, i! 
he was a single man, but had chosen his fiancee, Miss Mary A. Bul- 
lock, before his removal here. 

Early in December they planned a wedding-, but the location 
of an authorized person to tie the knot was hard to settle. Decem- 
ber 1 2th they made an unsuccessful trip to Shell City, but failed 
to find any one, though a friend promised to furnish one the fol- 
lowing Sabbath, so they returned with the knot untied. One week 
later, December 19th, 1880, Miss Mary A. Bullock became Mrs. 
A. W. Sanderson, at Shell City ; they returned to Osage the same 
evening. 

The oldest child Edas was born August 29th, 1881. He there- 
fore is the first male child born in Osage. 

The first white woman in the township was Mrs. George M. 
Carson. 

During the summer of 1880 Mr. E. S. Frazier had located upon 
the south-east quarter of Section 22. He was an old soldier and 
could not stand the hardships of pioneer life. Early in October, 
188 1, he passed away and was buried on his homestead. For 
over one year the people lived without any form of government. 
August 15th, 1881, the citizens of the two unorganized towns, 
Township 140, Ranges 36 and 37, met at the residence of G. M. 
Carson and proceeded to organize a township government. 

The following were elected: Town board, Dewit Clason, 
chairman; J. M. Hawkins and A\'. B. Bateman, supervisors; 
treasurer, E. J. Moore; clerk, C. E. Bullock; justices of the peace, 
G. M. Carson and H. F. A\'itter. 

For a term of ten years the two townships were together. 
Owing to some dissatisfaction. May 4th, 1891, the eastern town- 
ship pulled out of the organization and elected as follows: 

Town board, Luther Phelps, chairman ; John Schuman and 
Andrew Allen, trustees; clerk, F. E. Moss; treasurer, Steener 
Pederson ; justices of the peace, G. M. Carson, A. J. AVoodin ; con- 
stables, G. L. Bullock and T. W. Sartin. 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 615 

OSAGE. 

Osag-e, the name chosen, was taken from Osage, Iowa, which 
was conjured from O. Sage, a wealthy New Yorker, who after- 
wards gave his namesake a vaUiable library, and we are sorry that 
he did not serve us likewise. 



Its Development. 

During the spring of 1881 S. S. McKinley began the con- 
struction of a dam across Straight River on the southeast quarter 
of Section 20. He finished it during the summer and built the 
first sawmill. He also platted a portion of this quarter section 
west of the river, and secured the Carsonville post-ofhce, carrying 
the mail from Detroit with Carson Brothers as carriers, three 
trips per week. 

It was on the loth of October, 1881, that the legal voters gath- 
ered at the residence of G. ]\I. Carson and organized school dis- 
trict No. 31, and ordered a schoolhouse built "within forty rods 
of the dam." 

Six weeks later, H. F. Witter, a second grade teacher, began 
the first school in a private house owned by K. C. Allen, March 
1st. His term closed and he received an order for $66, with which 
he laid the foundation of his present fortune. 

The following summer a schoolhouse was built near the present 
site. 

Osage had quite a boom in 1881-2 but it practically stood still 
for ten years. Then prospects of a railroad appeared upon the 
horizon only to vanish in the early nineties. Then it began to 
retrograde for another decade, but in 1901 McKinley's store was 
consumed by fire, together with nearly all the buildings on the 
north side of the street. Osage had to rebuild and since that time 
has had a steady growth. In 1904 Henry AA'ay built a fine resi- 
dence and ]\Ir. Burlingame also completed another modern build- 
ing. 

''Necessity is the mother of invention," but Osage dates its 
stable growth from the year 1901. 

It was in the month of May that T. M. Sharp moved to Osage. 
He had previously leased the milling site for a term of years. He 
and Henry \\'ay straightway began the improvement of the saw- 
mill, and commenced getting out the lumber for a grist-mill. The 



6i6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

mill was 1)eg"un in the summer of 1902 and finished the next 
season. Now Osage can boast of having- one of the best equipped 
seventy-five barrel mills this side of Minneapolis. A set of five 
double rollers, together with ])atent cockle extractor and smiitter, 
and the improved machinery in line of bolters. 

Three grades of flour are made, first patent, Straight (meaning 
the lake of course) and export. It is not uncommon to see men 
who live twenty-five miles away come here with a grist. 

Under the same roof is a feed mill, which is at work nearly all 
the time making chop-feed for the farmers at the low price of five 
cents a sack. 



The Roads. 

When Osage Township was first settled there was a road running 
north by west through the tract. It was an old government trail 
between Leech Lake and A\'hite Earth. This road crossed the 
J^traight at the outlet. Now we have at least fifty miles of road 
in pretty good repair, generally on section lines. The judicial road 
crosses the township from north to south, two miles from the 
west line. 

The second bridge is now being constructed across the Shell 
River, and five bridges cross the Straight. 

During the winter of 1903,- while the Legislature was in session, 
E. D. Sylvester requested Senator Peterson for an appropriation 
of $600 for a bridge at Osage. Senator Peterson and repre- 
sentative Hawley took the matter in hand ; l)ut when the Legis- 
lature cut the appropriation bill in two, the allo\\ance became 
$300. Now we have a substantial bridge of stone abutments. 



The Hunt. 

In the fall of 1889, J- F- ancl G. F. Siegford, Ed. Haight, G. M. 
Carson, Emmett Kelly and Frank Horr went on a hunting trip, as 
was their custom many seasons before and since, about the first of 
November. 

After picking out their ground and making the necessary 
hunter's shack, they began to study the surrounding country. The 
ground was bare for several days, but one morning they awoke 
and found about four inches of snow had fallen. All were ready 



A Pione;er History of Becker County. 617 

at six o'clock for the chase. J. F. Siegford, who had been cook 
for a few days, had noticed two deer near the camp, and when they 
started they ahvays ran in the same direction. The plan was to 
start a drive from camp. Mr. Siegford made a detour of half a 
mile and located on the runway where it crossed the brow of a 
hill. He gave the signal and the boys started on a drive of about 
eighty rods. Soon Mr, Siegford saw the deer coming. Just as 
they were passing he dropped the one in the lead by a neck shot. 
The doe turned and ran the back track. Ere long she met Ed. 
Haight face to face. Ed., forgetting his double-barreled buck- 
shot loaded gun. threw his "ready cap in the air'' and stood admir- 
ing the symmetry and agility of the doe carrying the white flag. 
She stopped still, forcil)ly threw out her breath, and trotted slowly 
back down the runway. J. F. noticed her coming, took good aim 
and soon she lay within a rod of the buck. 

When they asked Ed. why he didn't shoot he said, "Isn't it 
against the rules of war to fire on a flag of truce?" 

The finish of the first drive was near the west bank of the lake, 
which was two miles long. Just above the first ledge on a rise 
of the ground was a second runway. Frank Siegford and George 
Carson were left to watch this runway, while J. F. Siegford re- 
mained where he was. The rest of the company went up the lake 
on the ice to make a drive. The men on the runway waited 
patiently for half an hour. Xot seeing any deer or hearing any 
of the boys, they met and made a fire. Presently they heard a 
shot. Soon Frank and Ed. came down the lake on their back 
track whistling. They said "Awful big woods up there." "But 
where is Emmett?" they were asked. Neither had seen him for 
an hour and a half. All started to find the lost boy. 

Just as they arrived at the north end of the lake, Emmett came 
in sight. When asked why he did not make the drive he said, 
"Why, you see after I had been in the woods a long time I came 
to a man's track and concluded to follow it. I traveled half an 
hour and came to a place where another man had taken the same 
track. I determined to catch him and hurried as fast as I could. 
I was about out of breath when I saw a porcupine on a tree just 
ahead and I shot him. Again I started after the man, sometimes 
nearly on a run. What do you think? What do you think? 

Why, soon I ran right into that porcupine. I took my back 

track and came to the lake." 



6i8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Here on the bank they ate hmch and held councih It was 
agreed to send Kelly down the west bank of the lake to watch a run- 
way at the outlet of the lake. This creek had high banks and was 
about forty rods long, running into a second lake. 

The rest were to drive the eastern shore of the lake. Giving 
Kelly twenty minutes the start, they all lined up in the woods on 
the east bank with an interval of twenty rods between each. 

Hardly had their systematic drive began till they heard shots 
down near the outlet. Bang, bang, bang, went the Winchester. 
The drivers kept making plenty of noise. About a hundred shots 
had been fired when they reached the outlet. They looked for 
Kell}' and the venison. Only one small fawn was in sight. "How 
many were there?" they asked. "Over twenty, but I was too far 
ofif," said Kelly. Mr. Horr went to the runway and paced to- 
ward Kelly. At twenty-five paces he began to pick up shells, and 
ere he had reached thirty near the foot of a balsam tree, he had 
picked up twenty-five empties. "Well," said Mr. Horr, "Kelly's 
got the ague; let's take the fawn and go to camp." It so happened 
that both hind legs and one front leg of the fawn were broken. 
Kelly declared that it was done at one shot. 

But all days were not like this one, for when they started home 
twenty-seven saddles were strung up near their camp. Still this 
was a poor year for hunting. 



Squire S. McKinley. 

Squire S. McKinley was born at Geneva, Kane County, Illinois, 
February 9th, 1840. His school days were nearly all passed there, 
but in 1854 his parents removed to Newberry, Mitchell County, 
Iowa, and later to St. Ansgar. Later he took a course at the 
Academy and finally studied law under Daniel W. Lawrence. 

Squire had just reached his majority before President Lin- 
coln was inaugurated and on the 5th of March, 1861, he ofifered his 
services to his country. A company was organized and drilled 
under John P. Knight as captain. In June, 1861, Squire, with 
twenty-nine others, were mustered into the service of the United 
States at Keokuk, Iowa. His regiment, the Third Iowa Regiment 
of Volunteers, lost nearly half its number in the first battle. It fol- 
lowed Grant to Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Shiloh and Memphis. 
It was under General Halleck at the second battle of Cornith, and 



A Pioneer History oF Becker County. 619 

later took part in the battle of Coldwater and Greenville, where 
Mosby entertained them royally to the extent of half of their 
depleted ranks. At the battle of Haines' BluiT, General E. O. C. 
Ord commanded, but May 9th they met General Grant and took 
part in the great siege of Vicksburg. Squire was with Sherman 
at the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, where the division had one 
of its hardest encounters during the war. His regiment was ordered 
to charge some cannon on a slope ; when they were within a few 
steps ]\rr. IMcKinley was facing one of them. A discharge fol- 
lowed and the first thing he remembered afterward was that a 
comrade was washing his face at a little creek. He immediately 
took his place in the ranks. Next the regiment was with Sherman 
in a marauding expedition in Alabama. Later, what was left of 
the boys took part in the ill-fated Red River expedition, and were 
forty-seven days under fire. The regiment having fought itself 
out of existence, was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, in July, 
1864. There were fifteen men in line of Squire's company. Dur- 
ing this exciting term of service Squire never lost but one battle, 
and that was caused by a case of measles which held him bedfast. 
He never entered the hospital, and the only harm done to him was 
done by the concussion of the cannon. 

He then returned home and later raised a company and was 
commissioned captain, but this organization was never mustered in. 

During the fall of 1865, Squire was elected sheriiT of Mitchell 
County and was the first officer to land a bank robber in Fort 
Madison. 

In the spring of 1880, he, in company with a Mr. Britz, filed 
on the Rice water-power of Park Rapids and the following spring 
sold it to the present owner. 

June, 1881, found him building a dam across Straight River at 
Osage, which furnished power for his sawmill. 

Squire ]*kIcKinley was strictly temperate, clear-headed, and an 
orator of no mean ability. His loyalty was unquestioned. He 
voted for every Republican President — Lincoln to Roosevelt. 

Lying on his death bed, he closed the interview with the words, 
"The Shell Prairies are an ideal place for any man to live. The 
most beautiful country I ever saw." He died February 19th, 1905. 



620 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



J. F. Siegford. 

The subject of our sketch was born on Chestnut Street in the 
city of "Brotherly Love" on August 14th, 1824. His father's birth 
was under the same roof, and this house is still in possession of 
the family wdiose ownership will soon reach the second century mile- 
stone. ]\Ir. Siegford is the second of a family of five, two brothers 
and two sisters besides himself; both of the brothers are living. 

When J. F. Siegford was seven years old his father moved to 
Rochester, N. Y., where he went to school in a log school house 
for six months in a year, each pupil paying tuition. He carried 
Cobb's Dictionary and v'^peller and Daboll's arithmetic. A piece 
of slate rock served as a slate, being ground smooth, and a soft 
rock pencil served for computations and writing. 

Rochester was then a small town, there being only one house 
west of the river, in the midst of a black ash swamp, now the heart 
of the city. 

At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to his uncle for four 
years as a wheelwright, who was then working in Lowell, Massa- 
chusetts. His trade being learned, four years later he became 
master mechanic and later superintendent of a paper mill. 

He followed this new trade at Wheeling, W. Ya., Lowell, Mass.. 
Gibsonville, Pike and Rochester, X. Y. 

While working at Gibsonville. he met and married Aliss Elmira 
Davis, of Danesville, who has shared the trials of her husband for 
the last fifty-seven years. 

During the war ^Ir. Siegford worked for the government, and 
assisted in throwing the ]iontoon l-)ridges across the Tennessee 
River at Chattanooga. 

In 1865, he was in Wisconsin, a farmer, working a part of the 
time as a carpenter. Three years later he sought another climate, 
moving to New Hampton, Iowa, where he worked as a contractor. 

Ten years later he again moved, but this time to Minnesota, and 
settled where he now resides. 

He is an Abraham Lincoln Republican, and has always tried 
to make the "North Star State" shine as bright as any of her sisters. 
His activity of early life has remained with him in his later years ; 
although over eighty years old he moves as supple as one of forty. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 621 

His active days of labor are over, l^ut he takes pleasure in 
looking backward over an active career with the consolation of a 
life well spent. 

G. F. Siegford. 

G. F. Siegford, son of J. F. Siegford and Elmira Siegford, first 
saw the light of day January 29th, 1849, ^^ Danesville, N. Y. His 
early education was obtained from the village schools of Danesville, 
East Pike and Mt. Morris. When sixteen he removed with his 
father to Columbus, Wisconsin, where he attended school in the 
winter and farmed in summer. 

Three years later he engaged as a carpenter and joiner, working 
with his father at New Hampton, Iowa. For a period of eleven 
years he was associated with the company, Siegford & Son, and 
many buildings from \Yaterloo to Osage, Iowa, stand as monuments 
of their handicraft. 

During the winter of 1875 ^^^ took a brief respite from labor 
and visited the scenes of his bovhood. Here he met and married 
Aliss Sib}'l Haight and the following spring they returned to 
Iowa. 

In the fall of 1878 the family removed to A'erndale and remained 
there for the winter. The following spring he moved to the farm 
where he now resides. 

For the next four years he followed the carpenter's trade at 
Pine Point and Rice River Mission and one season at Fargo. 

Since that time he has been engaged in farming. He now 
commands 575 acres of land, 370 of which are improved. 

His wife, Sibyl Haight, was born May 31st, 1844, at Oakport. 
N. Y. She attended a district school, and began teaching at the 
early age of fifteen, beginning at $2.25 per week or $9.00 per 
month of twenty-two days. Mrs. Siegford taught the greater part 
of the time for seventeen years, and towards the last commanded 
$35.00 per month which was counted big wages in those days. 
They have raised four children to manhood and womanhood, Roy 
E., Renie, Maurice and E. L. 

^^Ir. Siegford is the largest individual land owner in Osage 
Township, and a few }'ears more will find him farming one of 
the best farms in Becker County. He has filled nearly every posi- 
tion of trust in the tow'nship afi'airs and has always been equal 
to the emergencv. 



622 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Gillian. 

John Gillian was born at Lowell, Mass., July 21st, 1843. His 
wife is his junior by one year, having 1844 as the date of her birth, 
and Prince Edward Island as the location. In 1863 she took up 
her residence in Lowell, Mass., and six years later she married John. 
The chances in the East are limited, and ten years later they moved 
West, and in the spring- of 1881 moved to A'erndale.and a few months 
later upon the northwest quarter of Section 20. Not long after 
they came to Osage, Mr. Peter McSuteer, who had subsequently 
located upon the northwest quarter of Section 32, passed away, and 
Mrs. Gillian fell heir to 160 acres in Shell Prairie. They now have 
220 acres under the plow and several acres more ready for the 
breaker. They are contented and have retired from active life, 
and hope to spend their latter days under Christian influence. 



W. P. Holliday. 

As a further evidence that Osage is a good place to live, we 
give an account of W. P. Holliday. A Canadian by birth, born 
August 23rd, 1849, i" Ontario, he emigrated to ?^Ieeker County, 
Minnesota, in 1878, and two years later he was in Cormorant 
Township, Becker County. Five years later he took up a home- 
stead in Osage Township. Here he lived seven years, and again 
moved to Cormorant Township. He had the misfortune of losing 
his first wife during this move, and had equally good luck two 
years later in finding another. Again he moved to Osage, 1901, 
and has since remained upon his homestead. He says that he has 
lived in a good many places, l)ut Osage suits him best of all, and 
that if anyone can make an honest living he can do it in Osage 
Township. 

Luther Phelps. 

Luther Phelps was born on a farm in Warren Countv, N. Y., 
March 8th, 1832. At the early age of eleven he went before the 
mast, and sailed the seas until he gained his majority. He was a 
soldier in the civil war. W^ien he was twenty-two years of age 
he married Miss Mary E. Horning, who was also a resident of 
the same county and state. 

Nine children were born to them, five boys and four girls. 
All the boys have farms near their father's, while their older 
daughter, Mrs. Smith, resides on a farm just across the road. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 623 

While the family was living near Albert Lea, Minnesota, they 
heard of the free land on Shell Prairies, and in the fall of 1880 
Mr. Phelps and family removed to Osage and settled npon the 
northeast quarter of Section 14, where he lives to-day. When he 
came to Becker County he possessed four horses, harness and 
wagon, together with a little money. He now has two horses, 
eleven head of cattle, some other stock and machinery enough to 
run the seventy-five acres he has under the plow. He has made 
an honest living, increased his stock, which is enough. Few men 
can boast of more. 



Chapter XXXIX. 

HISTORY OF CARSONVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

By Mrs. Mary E. Dezell. 

A quarter of a century ago the tide of emigration reached a 
part of Minnesota which the pioneers had named Shell Prairie. 
The territory so named stretches from the junction of the Shell 
River with the Crow Wing, in a northwesterly direction, to Shell 
Lake, the source of the Shell River. There were three divisions 
of territory. The one reaching from the mouth of Shell River to 
Mantor, now Plubbard, was called First Prairie, being the first 
reached by the settlers coming from the South. From Mantor to 
Osage was called Second Prairie. From Osage to Shell Lake 
was Third Prairie. Third Prairie also took in the southeast cor- 
ner of the Indian reservation. These names are seldom used 
now, save when speaking of pioneer days. 

The writer of this brief history had long contemplated writing 
an account of the early settlement of Third Prairie, and now at the 
beginning realizes her inability to do justice to the subject ; for 
surely this beautiful land is worthy of the finest of pen pictures ; and 
what a glorious subject for the painter's brush is presented by the 
dark green forest which skirts the prairies and crowns the hills 
that encircle them ! Here the poet may find many a theme for 
soul-inspiring verse, the writer of romance hear stories of love and 
friendship, joy and mirth, pain and sorrow, and hope and patient 
waiting — sometimes for things that never came. What abundant 
material for the "pen of a ready writer," to compile a book of 
pleasant stories. The pioneer spirit which impels people, especially 



624 



A Pioneer History of Becker Couxtv. 



of the West, to ever seek new countries and fortunes pervaded our 
community, and the members of our httle band of '80-2 are scat- 
tered, some in California and AFontana, others in Colorado, and a 
few in Alberta. Canada. 




MR. AND MRS. JAMES DEZELL. 

The "Reaper whose name is Death,"' has also gathered many 
sheaves from among us, and although the vacant places have 
been filled, and many new settlers have come for whom we have 
kind regard and high respect, yet we still miss the neighbors of 
"Auld Lang Svne." 



Natural Resources. 

To the eye of the first settler, the natural resources of the 
country were all that could be desired. Building material was 
abundant. There was no lack of w^ood for fuel. Cold, sparkling 
water was to be had twenty or thirty feet from the surface, which 
depth was not difficult to reach, and the soil was fertile and well 
adapted to diversified farming. 

In the forest roamed innumerable wild beasts, manv of which 
were valuable for food, namely, moose, deer, caribou and others. 
The fox, mink, lynx, wolf, muskrat and black bear were valuable 
for their fur. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 625 

There were many birds with flesh dehcions enoug-h to tempt 
the palate of an epicure, the numerous lakes teemed with "finny 
trilies," berries grew in abundance, the most j)rolific of which was 
the blueberry. There were hundreds and hundreds of acres of 
this delicious berry ; the sale of them brought manv dollars to the 
settlers. They are still an article of commerce, though they do 
not grow as abundantly as they did twenty years ago. Cranberries 
grow in the marshes and a considerable quantity is shipped south 
nearl}' every year. W'intergreen berries are also found here but 
not in sufificient quantities to make them an article of consequence. 

Another source of revenue to the settler was the sale of Seneca 
snakeroot. In the earl}' daxs this article commanded a high 
price ; sixty to seventy cents per pound. The roots were much 
larger than now. They have deteriorated on account of constant 
digging, l)ut the Indians still dig and sell a considerable (|uantity. 

The bounteous hand of the Creator had also decorated the land 
with the most beautiful flowers ; every glade and every glen were 
resplendent with native flowers which, grew in the wildest and 
richest profusion. Tn the spring came the crocus and buttercup, 
then the sweet-william and the violets, followed bv the fragrant 
wild rose, vying with the prairie lily in grace and beaut}', the 
yellow lady's-slipper and dainty bluebells, and others too numer- 
ous to mention but just as lovel}'. In later summer and during 
the autumn months came the larkspur, the goldenrod. ])ur]ile 
asters, and latest of all the beautiful blue-fringed gentian of 
which many poets have sung. 

In the deep shade of the forest were found plants and flowers 
more lovely still, if possible, among which were the evergreen 
mosses and vines, stately ferns and the magnificent pink lady slipi')er 
(moccasin flower), emblem of our state. 

Wild flowers still grow here, but not in such jjrofusion as in 
days of yore. The hand of man has marred the beaut}' of the 
natural scenerv. 



Organization. 

Carsonville Township, including Town 140, Ranges 36 and ^^y, 
was organized September 20th, 1881. The first town election was 
held at Osage. The first officers were: C. E. Bullock, town clerk; 
supervisors, Dewitt Clason (chairman), J. 3.1. Hawkins and \\'\\\- 



626 A Pfonekr History of Becker County. 

iam Bateman ; assessor, Henry F. Witter ; treasurer, E. J. Moore ; 
justices, S. S. ]\IcKinley and George M. Carson. 



Naming of the Town. 

G. M. Carson took the petition asking for the organization of 
the town to Detroit and presented it to the county auditor, Mr. 
Cronil), who looked it over and remarked that there was no name 
for the new township. ]\Ir. A. H. ^^'ilcox, couiUv treasurer, who 
was present, suggested that Mr. Carson put in his own name, 
which he did. The name was rejected by the secretary of state as 
there was already a town in the state by that name. Mr. Wilcox 
then suggested that the town be named " Carson ville," which name 
was accepted. 

In the year of 1891, the towns were separated, the west half 
retaining the name Carsonville. The other town was called Osage. 
At the annual town meeting, March loth, 1891, officers were elected, 
some of whom resided in the eastern half of the town, which 
became Osage after the separation, so Carsonville's list of officers 
was incomplete. A special town meeting was held May i6th to 
elect new officers. They were : Henry F. Witter, chairman, who 
had been elected at the annual meeting ; supervisors, Jerome G. Farr, 
Zach. T. Lemon ; clerk, J. A. Barnard ; treasurer, J. G. Moore ; 
assessor, D. E. IMoore ; justices, Alex. Cook and C. Greenlaw; 
constables, James Lemon and John Kells. 

The first school district was organized November 28th, 1883. 
The meeting was held at the residence of Benj. F. Horr. The 
officers elected were: H. F. Witter, clerk; E. J. Moore, treasurer; 
Jas. Dezell, director. 

A log schoolhouse was commenced that winter and was com- 
pleted the next summer. 

In 1888, two new schoolhouses were built, and in 1898, a third 
one was added. We have advanced from a log schoolhouse, built 
by donated work, to three good frame buildings well furnished 
with books and necessary apparatus. The districts are also sup- 
plied with libraries. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 627 



A Chapter of Fatal Accidents. 

There is a reaper, whose name is Death, 

And, with his sickle keen; 
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 

And the flowers that grow between. — LongfcUozv. 

A remarkable number of accidental deaths have occurred in the 
town. August nth, I890, C. E. Bullock, town clerk, was stacking 
hay on his premises, using a spirited team, which became frightened 
and ran away. Mr. Bullock was thrown violently to the ground 
and death was instantaneous. 

Consulting the record of deaths kept by the town clerk, we see 
that the next death was of Jerome G. Farr, chairman of the board 
of supervisors. He was riding on the running gears of a wagon 
with two or three other men. The wagon had on a large quantity 
of groceries. As they were goiug down a steep hill the wagon- 
reach broke, and Mr. Farr fell in such a way that the whole weight 
of the load was thrown upon him, causing injuries from which he 
died the following day, June 3rd, 1892. 

( )n the farm of Mr. Siegford, just across the town line, occur- 
red one of the most shocking and heart-rending accidents that 
people are called upon to witness. On Saturday afternoon, Aug- 
ust 27th, 1898, A. A. Farr, familiarly known as "Al Farr" of this 
town, was assisting Mr. C. Greenlaw in running the threshing" ma- 
chine. Something went wrong with the separator. With his 
usual quickness of action, "Al" sprang upon the separator and in 
some strange manner tripped and fell, his head going into the 
cylinder. Death was instantaneous, his head being crushed to a 
shapeless mass. 

On the afternoon of August 29th, 1902, the grim reaper without 
warning entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Stephens, and 
took therefrom their little son, James William, aged three years. 
A gun was accidentally discharged, inflicting a wound from which 
he died a few hours later. 

Horr— Kelly. 

Early in the spring of 1880, B. F. Horr and Emmett Kelly left 
Verndale bound for Shell Prairies in Becker County. They 
brought two wagons, one loaded with household furniture, the other 
loaded with horse-feed, pork, flour and groceries. 



628 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



There were no settlers on Third Prairie at that time, except 
the Indians ; the}' were cjuite nmiierous. but they had their homes 
on White Earth Reservation which lay in the immediate vicinity. 

Before Mr. Horr left \ erndale. Mr. Georg'e Carson, who had 
been up to Third Prairie the previous summer, selected land and 
built a log- cabin thereon, kindly gave him permission to store his 
goods in the cabin. After selecting land, Mr. Horr taking the 




MRS. B. F. HORR. 



southeast quarter Section ii, township 140, Range 37, Mr. Kelly 
taking the southwest quarter of Section 11, this being railroad 
land, they erected the body of a log house, 12x14 feet. 

They then returned to Verndale to get Mrs. Horr and her 
daughter Mamie, a child of eight years. Arriving at that place, 
they loaded the remainder of their household goods and all started 
on their journey to the new home in the wilderness, happy with 
the thought that they would be prosperous in the goodly land 
where they had chosen their future home. Tidings of the beautiful 
Shell Prairies had been borne to southern ^Minnesota, and northern 
Iowa, and many families were preparing to move to that favored 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 629 

spot. So it was evident that they would not be long without 
neighbors. 

After traveling three days through marshes, snow and cold 
weather, they arrived at the end of their journey on the 23rd day 
of April, 1880, about 5 o'clock p. m. 

During" the day they had met a man at Alantor, an Indian trad- 
ing post, kept by Jarvis Howard, wdiich place is now Hubbard, 
Hubbard Count}', who had told them that the goods that they had 
stored in Mr. Carson's house had accidentally caught fire and 
burned. This was sad news indeed. Nevertheless, they kept 
bravely on determined to make the best of the situation. 

Such pluck and perseverance as was displayed by this family 
was characteristic of the early settlers of Carsonville. Many were 
the hardships and deprivations they endured during the first few 
years of their residence here. As all their provisions had been 
destroyed by fire, it was necessary to go to Verndale to obtain 
another suppl}'. 

The house they had built had no cover, so to provide a shelter 
for Mrs. Horr and Mamie the sideboards of the wagon box were 
propped against the inside wall in such a way as to form a cover- 
ing. Three or four inches of snow fell, but she managed to live 
through the trying ordeal and in due time relief came. They 
lived for a few days without a cover to the house, but finally a roof 
of "shakes" was put on. They lived all summer without a floor. 
The bedsteads were poles fastened in the walls. 

Mrs. Horr was the first white woman in Carsonville. Mr. and 
Mrs. Horr conclude the narrative of their pioneer days with these 
words : 

"We improved our home and made fast friends during our 
stay in that vicinity, and enjoyed many good dinners and social 
gatherings in that log house, as much as in any place we have 
ever been." 

In 1888, Mr. Horr obtained a position as railway mail clerk. 
The family moved to Minneapolis. A few yt ars later they removed 
to Pembina, N. D., where they still reside. Mr. Horr being still 
in the service of Uncle Sam as railway mail clerk. 

Mr. Kelly lives in Minneapolis, having embarked on the sea 
of matrimony at that place. 



630 A PioNEEK History of Becker County. 



J. G. Lewis. 

J. G. Lewis, of Plymouth, Iowa, came to Third Prairie on a 
home-seeking expedition in May, 1880, and was the second actual 
settler. He took as a homestead the southwest quarter. Section 
10. Owing to the delicate health of his wife, they were unable 
to reside on their claim. Her death occurred at Shell City, Wadena 
County, in August, 1883. Mr. Lewis now lives in Montana. 

D. E. Aloore, who arrived from Flora, Carroll County, Indiana, 
■November, 1882, made homestead entry on the place in the summer 
of 1883. Mr. Moore still lives on the same place, and is post' 
master of Linnell postoffice, which is located in his house. 



I 



C. E. Bullock. 

About the first of June, 1879, C. E. Bullock and Arthur M. San- 
derson started from Oakland, Freeborn County, Minnesota, on a 
home-seeking tour. On the nth of June they arrived at Third 
Prairie. After "viewing the landscape o'er," Mr. Sanderson se- 
lected as homestead the south ^vest cjuarter of Section 20, now in 
Osage. He still resides there. Mr. Bullock decided to homestead 
the northeast quarter Section 24, Township 140, Range 37. Exactly 
a year after their first arrival the^- again appeared on Third Prairie. 
Mr. Bullock bringing his family \-\ 'th him, a member of which w'as 
the future Mrs. Arthur Sanderson. 

Mr. Bullock was a prominent p-tblic man in the town, being 
town clerk from the date of organization until his death, a period 
of nearly ten years. 



Moore and Overholser. 

Early in the summer of the year 1880, Evan J. Moore and his 
brother-in-law, Levi Overholser arrived and selected land. They 
were both from Green, Butler County, Iowa. 

Mr. Moore purchased railroad land, southwest quarter Section 
13. Mr. Overholser made homestead entry on northeast quarter 
Section 14. 

After clearing and plowing a few acres they returned to 
Iowa. Mr. Overholser moved his family to his claim in October, 
1880. He soon made a comfortable home, where he still resides. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 631 

J. A. Barnard, Mr. Overholser's soii-iii -law, cijiitributes an interest- 
ing article, which tells their experience during the first winter 
among the pines. 

Mr. Moore came with his family in June, 1881, improved his 
land and made a comfortable home, where he resided until his 
death which occurred September 20th, 1899. Mr. Moore was a 
prominent public man, a good neighbor, wise counselor and high- 
ly respected by the community. 

October 14th, 1880, three men with their families arrived on 
Third Prairie from near Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa, a 
little band of homeseekers. They were John Snyder, Z. T. Lemon 
and Martin E. Stephens. 

Two men who accompanied them, A. Goodrich and George 
Dibbs, slept in their blankets under the wagon. When they awoke 
in the morning they were literally "snowed under." During the 
night snow to the depth of sixteen inches had fallen. This w^as 
the remarkable storm of October 15th, 1880. 

How their hearts must have sunk at the dreary outlook. They 
went to Mr. Bullock's hospitable house, where they had breakfast, 
and where the women and children stayed until the men looked 
around for a place of shelter for a few days, or until they could build 
houses for winter. 

They found a log cabin near Straight Lake, in Osage Town- 
ship, which had been built some time previous by John Gillian, a 
pioneer of Osage Township, but which was now vacant. The 
families were moved in, and the men went further west in search 
of land. They came to the beautiful Section 4, one quarter of 
which Mrs. Linnell had taken a few months before. There were 
three-quarters left, just enough to go around. Mr. Stephens took 
the northeast quarter, J\Ir. Lemon the northwest quarter and Mr. 
Snyder the southwest quarter. 

Thev at once set to work and built houses into which they moved 
before winter set in in earnest. For the first winter's experiences 
of these pioneers, read "Reminiscences" on another page. 

]vlessrs. Stephens and Lemon still live on their homesteads. 
Mr. Snvder sold his place, and now lives in Hubbard County. Mr. 
Snvder was a soldier in the civil war, serving in an Iowa regiment. 



632 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Linnell. 

Some time duriiii;' the summer of 1880, Mrs. A. AL J^innell, 
widow, of West L'nion, Iowa, came to Third Prairie to estabhsh a 
home. She selected the southeast quarter. Section 4, and returned 
to [owa for the winter. The following spring she returned to her 
claim, accompanied l)v her sons, Charles and Earl ; Frank came a 
few months later. 

Charles homesteaded the southeast cjuarter. Section 10. Mrs. 
Linnell, with tlie aid of her sons, made a valuable farm and com- 
fortable home. They kept a store for a number of years. 

The first post-office in Carsonville was estal)lished there in 
September. 1883. Mrs. Linnell was commissioned postmistress, 
hence the name, "Ivinnell Post Office." 

About ten years later the T^innell family sold their farms and 
moved to California. 



Purdy and Cole. 

During the sunmier of I880, Daniel Purdy and Noble Cole 
came to find homes ; Mrs. Cole was Mrs. Purdy 's neice. 

Mr. Purdy came from Mower County, Minnesota, Mr. Cole 
from Illinois. The former took as a homestead the southwest 
quarter, Section 12, the latter the southeast quarter of same sec- 
tion. They moved their families to their claims early in the fol- 
lowing spring. 

Mr. Purdy lived on his claim, which, with the aid of his sons, 
he converted into a valuable farm, for a number of years, then 
went to St. John's, X. D., to reside with his daugther, Airs. Frank 
Ordway, where he died in the year 1897, ^^ the advanced age of 
eighty-two years. 

Mr. Cole also impro\-ed his place and li\ed on it until his 
death, which occurred May 19th. 1895. Mrs. Cole having pre- 
ceded him to the grave but two weeks before. 

Mr. Cole was a soldier in the ci\il war, serving in an Illinois 
rcGfiment. 



A PioNEiiR History of BE;cKii;R County. 633 



De Witt Clason. 

In the spring of i88r, De Witt Clason of Osage. Iowa, moved 
his family to the claim that he had selected, the northeast quarter 
Section 12. He lived on the place, improving and cultivating it 
until he made final proof, after which he removed to Osage, kept 
a hotel there for some time, and removed to Park Rapids, where 
he lived until his death, which occurred in February, iy02. During 
his residence in Park Rapids, and for some time previous, he was 
employed by the Pine Tree Lumber Company to take care of their 
standing pine. He was a soldier in the civil war. 



Taylor, Evans and Lehman. 

In 1881, John Taylor of Aleeker County, Minn., took the north- 
west quarter, Section 12 made final proof on same and sold it to 
Jerome G. Farr in 1887 and immigrated to Washington. 

Edward Evans settled on Section 2, southeast quarter, in 1881. 
He lived there about ten years, when he removed to Montana, 
where he died the following summer. 

Mr. Evans was soldier during the civil war, serving in a Min- 
nesota regiment. He was engaged in ([uelling the Indian trou- 
bles in Minnesota. 

Frank Lehmann from Xorth AA'ashington, Chickasaw County, 
Iowa, settled on the northwest quarter. Section 2. in 1882. lived 
there until the spring of 1896, when he sold the place to I. vS. 
McKinlev and moved to Iowa, where he died a few vears later. 



Witter Brothers. 

In the spring of 1880, D. M. A\'itter purchased the northwest 
(juarter. Section 13, railway land. His brother, A. L. Witter, pur- 
'I'ased the northeast quarter, Section 13. D. M. Witter at once 
built on his land, and, in the spring of 1881, moved his familv 
upon it. Still he lives there, and has made it a valuable farm. 

Henry F. Witter had taken a homestead on Section 10, but 
after he had made final proof moved to Park Rapids and engaged 
in business at that place. 



634 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



A. J. Jones. 

In 1881, A. J. Jones, of Greene, Butler County, Iowa, purchased 
the northeast quarter Section 13, railroad land. He improved it 
and lived upon it for nine years, then removed to near Bemidji, 
where he took a homestead and lived until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1896. Mr. Jones was in the confederate ser\ice in the 
civil war. He met with a painful accident in September, 1882. 
When out hunting one afternoon, he was passing through a fence 
on the premises of his son-in-law, D. M. Witter, when his gun 
was accidentally discharged, the contents shattering his foot and 
ankle. The accident nearly proved fatal, and he was critically 
ill all winter. The limb was amputated and blood poison caused 
the other limb to be worse than useless. He finally recovered his 
health, but was badly crippled. 



Gilbert. 

William Gilbert and family came to Carsonville from Charles 
City, Iowa, in the summer of i88t. They settled on the northeast 
(piartcr. Section 2. George I. Pratt, Mrs. Gilbert's son, taking 
the place as a homestead. 

Mr. Gilbert took the northeast quarter Section 6 in the year 
1884 and proved up in 1889. He then went to Michigan, and died 
the following August, at the advanced age of eighty years. Mrs. 
Gilbert still lives at Carsonville. 



John G. Moore. 

In 1881, J. G. Moore, of Greene, Butler County, Iowa, pur- 
chased the northeast quarter of Section 11. He soon put a large 
portion of it under cultivation. In the spring of 1886 he moved 
his family to it and commenced to build. He continued to improve 
his farm, making it one of the most productive in the town. ^Ir. 
Moore lived in the place until last July, when he was stricken with 
apoplexy, July 5th, 1905, and died three days later. He was a 
soldier in the civil war, and served in an Indiana regimem 



A Pione;e;r History of Be;ck]Jr County. 63; 



James Dezell. 

James Dezell selected the southwest quarter of Section 2 for 
his future home, in the month of May, 1881. During- the spring 
of 1 89 1 he erected the first frame house built on Third Prairie and 
still resides on the place. 

]\Ir. Dezell was postmaster at Linnell from June, 1888, until 
October, 1898. He has held the office of town clerk since March, 
1893, until the present time, November, 1905. 



Pioneer Experience of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Barnard. 

I was married in 1880, and moved with my father-in-law, Levi 
Overholser, to Minnesota, leaving Iowa by wagon, September 7, 
1880. arriving upon Third Prairie, October 4th. We went direct to 
INTr. Overholser's claim, which was the northeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 14, Township 140, Range 37 and commenced building a log 
house. We used the wagon beds with the moving covers on for 
our sleeping apartments. For cooking we put the cooking stove 
upon the ground, and with poles and boughs constructed a bowery 
which served us very well until the night of October 14. On the 
morning of the 15th, when we awoke the ground was covered with 
snow to the depth of fifteen inches and it was still snowing and 
continued all of the 15th. Our house was incomplete; we had the 
body built, which was of logs, but no roof, chinking or daubing, so 
we began to look elsewhere for shelter. At that time there were 
but few shanties upon the prairie. A few were built in the summer 
of 1880, with the expectation of moving into them the following 
spring, and one of these houses belonging to D. M. Witter was 
unoccupied at that time. We moved into it on the 15th while the 
storm was still raging. After getting more comfortably settled we 
continued the work begun upon our own house. Snow covered 
the ground everywhere. To continue building necessitated a trip 
by wagon of twenty-five miles to procure lumber for roofing and 
doors. The trip was made and in due time the lumber was upon 
the ground and work was recommenced. A few more days of 
wading through the snow, roofing, daubing up the cracks between 
the logs, and we were ready to move in, which we did feeling 



636 A PioxEKR History uF Becker County. 

thankful we were to occupy our own house, made l)y our own 
hands. The hands played an ini])ortant ])art in the construction 
of our house. The ground was frozen so we dug up clinkers of 
frozen earth, put them in a kettle of hot water to thaw and mix. 
and with the hands threw the mud into the cracks between the 
logs. 

During the fall several families moved upon the i)rairie, so we 
were not alone that first winter, long to be remembered. The 
following families were our neighbors; M. E. Stevens. Z. T. Lemon, 
John Snyder, C. E. Ikdlock and AFr. Ilorr, who went South for 
the winter. 

The first winter was very trying. We had niauA- hardshi])S 
and inconveniences to contend with. ( )ur nearest post-ofiice was 
twenty-five miles away, and it was months sometimes, during the 
long snow bound winter that we never heard from the outside 
world. The first snow came October 15th and partially melted 
away, but by Xovember ist it began to snow, and it snt^wed off 
and on the entire winter, l)ccoming, before spring, upon an a\'er- 
age between three and four feet in depth. ( )ur closest railroad 
point was Wadena, about fifty miles away. In the forepart of win- 
ter w^e laid in a supply of provisions, what we thought necessarv 
to carry us through the winter. In Februar\- it became necessary 
to lay in a new supply of certain articles. I was compelled to 
take pack sacks and snowshoes and go to ]\Ianter, twenty-five 
miles. I started early in the mtTrning. and by eleven o'clock I was 
at my destination. After making a purchase of sugar and coffee, 
and a few other things, I started back thinking I could make home 
by night very easily. lUit by the time I had gone fi\e or six miles 
I began to get very leg-weary from the shoving of the wooden 
snowshoes. not being used to it, so I changed my course and head- 
ed for straight River, a few miles distant, where a friend by the 
name of Frank Ordvvay li\ed. .Vfter staying all night under his 
hospitable roof I resumed m\ iourne\- reaching home that eve- 
ning. The first winter was s])ent niostl_\- indoors, getting around 
being almost impossible during the later ])art of the winter. We 
went hunting for deer in the fall, and bagged some good ones, as 
they w'ere plentiful almost e\-er}vvhere. There were some moose. 
but they were more plentifid farther north. 

Foxes, l}-nx and rabbits were numerous. Game birds, such as 
ruffed grouse, pinnated grouse, were abundant, also some Cana- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 637 

dian grouse or fool-hens, woodcock and plover. Ducks came into 
the rivers and lakes in countless numbers. Mallards were the 
most plentiful with a good supply of blue and green winged teal, 
bald pate, 1)utlle head, wood duck and other varieties. In the spring- 
other families came to make new homes and a more sociable lot 
of pioneers never went west. In the spring, 1881, I and my wife 
moved upon a claim, northwest quarter Section 4, Township 140, 
Range 37, at present owned by Robert Lemon. In April, with 
H. F. Witter I started for Detroit City to file upon our land, Mr. 
Witter having taken land also. There was no wagon road running 
to Detroit at that time. All we knew was that Detroit laid to the 
southwest. We did not even know the distance, which is nearly 
forty miles. It was timbered all the way. We started in the 
morning, crossing Shell River one mile below Shell Lake, and 
keeping to the south of Shell Lake. We took enough provisions 
along to last during the day, thinking we would reach Detroit bv 
night, but we were doomed to disappointment. The first dav we 
made our way as best we could over a new country without roads, 
trails or even anything to guide us. The country was rolling, the 
hills were covered with pine, the low lands were co\'ered with 
brush, interspersed with lakes and rivers, swamps and tamarack 
marshes, which made progress very slow. The first da}' we got 
w^ithin about one mile of the ( )tter Tail River. A\'e went into camp 
])y an old log, after throwing some pine boughs up against the log 
for a protection. We sat our hats upon the ground and emptied 
the contents of our pockets into them including pocket-books, 
knives, ammunition and matches. After all was made ready we 
crawled into bed. Along about midnight it began to rain and we 
awoke wet and cold. The fire had been put out by the rain, and 
our matches were all wet. The night was pitch dark, and it con- 
tinued to rain. There was a spruce tree near so we stood one on 
either side of the trunk until daylight. We started in a south- 
westerly direction, about one mile, and came to the Otter Tail 
River, which was very high at that time. We could only cross 
it by wading, which we did. The water was extremely cold and 
reached to the top of our shoulders. We were almost frozen when 
we reached the other shore. Hastily adjusting our clothing we 
set out again reaching Detroit that evening. Not caring to return 
the same route we came home by Wliite Earth Agency, sore and 
tired, but in the happy possession of papers entitling us to homes. 
During the summer there was much improvement done on the 



638 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

prairie, building houses, clearing and breaking up the land which 
was to go into crops the next year. During the summer more 
families came upon the prairie. 

Our first Fourth of July celebration was held upon the claim 
of Mr. Siegford. It was attended by all the settlers and a good 
time resulted. On August 4th, 188I, our first child was born, 
Leroy Dennis Barnard, he being the first child born upon the 
Third Prairie, in what is now known as Carsonville Township. Two 
other children were born to us, Maggie M. Barnard, in 1883, and 
Maud ^r. Barnard, 1886. A\'e lived upon our claim until De- 
cember, 1894, when we moved to Flora. Indiana, our present home. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Barnard. 



Crimes. 

The great King of Kings 
Hath in the table of his law commanded, 

That thou shalt do no murder. 
Take heed, for he holds vengeance in his hands. 

To hurl upon their heads that break his law. — Shakespeare. 

Jacob Bakki was cruelly murdered in a lonely spot near the 
southwest corner of the township. 

On Tuesday morning, Nov. 18, 1898, he went to the woods 
for the purpose of gathering pine knots, from which by burning, 
to obtain tar. 

He carried an axe and gun. He was never again seen alive, 
except by the assassin who shot him. 

After killing him. the murderer made an inefifectual effort to 
conceal the body by dragging it a short distance and throwing 
a few branches over it. His belt, with cartridges, was found a few 
rods from the body. The gun was never found, and the posses- 
sion of the gun was perhaps the motive for killing the poor man. 

The body was not found until the following Sunday, the 6th, 
when it was discovered b}' his two brothers and a neighbor. An 
inquest was held and the verdict rendered was, briefly, murder. 

A large reward was offered for the apprehension of the murder- 
er, and efforts were made to ferret out the guilty man, but with- 
out success. 



A Pioneer History oe Becker CoUxXTv. 



639 



The First Death in Carsonville. 

The first death in the township was that of old Mr. Burnham 
who was at the time hving in what is now Green Vahey. 

He went hunting on Friday, Feb. 3, 1881, lost his way and 
when found on Sunday afternoon, both feet were badly frozen. 
He died a few days later at the house of Mr. Bullock, to which 
he had been taken to be cared for. He was eighty years old and 
was buried on Mr. Bullock's land, but few know the last resting- 
place of him who was the first to die on the Third Prairie. 




LEROY D. BARNARD. 



MRS. WESLEY LOWLESS, 

nee Frances witter. 



There he lies in an tmmarked grave, but his rest is as complete 
as if his grave was marked by the most costly granite monument. 

The first child born in Carsonville was a boy, son of Mrs. and 
Mr. J. A. Barnard, born on the 4th of August, 1881. 

The first girl born was Frances J. Witter, daughter of Daniel 
W. Witter and wife, born September 2, 1881. 



640 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The first Carsonville people to get married were Mr. James 
Dezell and Miss Mary Esther Lewis who were married on the 17th 
of May, 1882. 

THE FIRST SCHOOL. 
The first summer we were here, and before the school district 
was organized, I held school in my own house. The parents of the 
children paid a tuition fee of one dollar a month. There were ten 
pupils and I had quite a nice little school. 

Mrs. Mary E. Dezei.l. 



Chapter XL. 



HISTORY OF SHELL LAKE TOWNSHIP. 

The first white man to set foot on the soil of Shell Lake Town- 
ship so far as we know was William Morrison. Among several 
letters written by Mr. Morrison on this subject, is one given in 
full, and just as written and signed by himself, and addressed to 
his brother, Allan Morrison. 

Following are extracts from this letter : 

Bcrtliier. Canada, Jan. 16, 1856. 
My Dear Brother: 

Your letter of the 26th ultimo is at hand. I note what you say about 
the source of the Mississippi River. You wish to know who was the first 
person that went to its source. For the information of the Historical 
Society, I will state to you all about what came to my knowledge. 

I left Grand Portage, on the north shore of Lake Superior, now the 
boundary line between the United States and the British possessions in 
July, 1802, and arrived at Leech Lake in September the same year. In 
October I went and wintered on the headwaters of one of the branches 
of the Crow Wing River (Shell Lake). Our Indians were Pillagers. In 
the winter of of 1803 and 1804, I went and wintered at Wild Rice Lake. I 
passed by Red Cedar Lake (Lake Bemidii) now called Cass Lake, followed 
up the Mississippi to Cross Lake, and then up the Mississippi again to Elk 
Lake, now called Itasca Lake, the source of the great Mississippi River. 
A short distance this side I made a portage to get to Rice River. I dis- 
covered no trace of any white man before me when I visited Lake Itasca in 
1804. No white man can claim ihe discovery of the source of the Mississippi 
river before me, for I was the first that saw and examined its shores. 

William Morrison. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 641 

From Brewer's History of Itasca State. Park: 

Shell Lake was an ideal place for a trading post, there being 
a beautiful location on Section 11, which was undoubtedly the 
place where JNIorison's trading post was located, in October, 1862. 

See biography of Wm. Morrison, by Geo. A. Morison. 

The first settlers in the town of Shell Lake in recent years 
were the families of Tyree Doran and Henry Smith, who came 
into the township on the 12th of May, 1881. Doran took a home- 
stead and built a house on the southeast quarter of Section 2, 
and Smith located on the southwest quarter of the same section. 

A young woman whose name was Angeline Kinney, settled 
on the northeast quarter of Section 2 a few months afterwards, 
but after her marriage to Joseph Brewer in 1872, she went to 
live with her husband in Green Valley Township. This place was 
then taken by Frank Wilson who came into the township in the 
fall of 1881. 

These were all the people living in Shell Lake for three years. 
Their nearest neighbors were living on Section 4, in Carson- 
ville, four miles to the east, while to the north, the west and the 
south, there were no white people living within fifteen miles. 

At that time the Indians claimed all the land in that vicinity 
as far south as Shell Lake, and looked upon the Doran and Smith 
families as trespassers, and made several demands for their re- 
moval. 

IDuring their first summer there were about thirty lodges 
camped on Section 11, by Shell Lake, only about half a mile from 
where they were living and some of the young braves threatened 
to kill both families if they did not move away. When the 
Dorans were building their log house a crowd of Indians gathered 
around and threw knives at the men and made several other 
threatening demonstrations. In the process of building they rolled 
u]) some of the upper house logs with a horse and a long rope, 
and whenever the log would get nearly up to the top of the struc- 
ture some Indian would call out, "whoa ;" when of course the 
horse would stop and the log probably roll back to its starting 
place. This interference finally led to a quarrel with the Indians 
which came near proving serious, and was the cause of much bad 



642 A PioxKER History of Heckkr County. 

blood for several years afterwards. After awhile, however, they 
became reconciled and these same Indians became their best 
friends. 

The next settlers who came into the township were Thomas 
Richmond. Robert Richmond, John Abeline and Andrew Abeline 
who located on Section 3 in May, 1884, and John Conklin settled 
on Section 11 some time afterwards. 

Ole Eckman cam'e into the township in the spring of 1894. 

Leonard Hambly took a homestead on the southwest quarter 
of Section 30 in the spring of 1886 and resided there for several 
years. 

There were no other settlers east or south of Shell Lake for 
seven or eight years, but during the last twelve years nearly all the 
government land has been taken up, principally by Swedes. 

George Brager now owns a store and runs a post-office on the 
southeast quarter of Section 20. 

The first people to get married in Shell Lake Township were 
Frank Wilson and Mattie Doran who were united on the first day 
of January, 1885. 

The first boy born in the township was Fred Smith, son of Air. 
and Mrs. Henry Smith, who was born in 1882. 

The first girl born in the township was Mary Richmond, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Richmond, who was born on 
the 10th of January, 1886. 

The first death was that of Mary Jefi^rey who died May 27th, 
1887; aged about two years. 

The first school teacher in vShell Lake Township was Jennie 
Smith who began her school in April, 1890. She taught in an old 
farmhouse. The first schoolhouse was built on Section 2 in 1891. 



Organization of Shell Lake Township. 

The first election, at which Shell Lake Township was organ- 
ized, was held on the 7th day of December, 1897, at the school- 
house in district No. 45. 

The first annual township election was held on the 8th day of 
March, 1898, and the following ofificers were elected: Chairman of 
the board of supervisors, Clarence Kimball ; supervisors, George 
Davis and John M. Olson ; clerk, Ole N. Eckman ; treasurer, John 
Westerlund. 



A PioNKEK History of Be;cke;r County. 643 

Alexander Ahern was elected assessor but declined to serve 
and Frank Wilson was appointed in his place. 

The first justice of the peace was John N. Ellis, and John M. 
Olson was first constable. 



Tyree Doran. 

Tyree Doran was a Virginian, born among the Blue Ridge 
Mountains on the 23d day of December, 18 15, and was married to 
Miss Sarah E. Sims on the 23d of February, 1850. They lived for 
several years in Iowa and came to Becker County in May, 1881. 

Mr. Doran was a typical Virginian, about six feet four in 
height, of gigantic frame and symmetrical proportions. 

He died at Grand Forks, N. D., in the year 1895. 

Mrs. Doran is still living. Their children were : John, Joseph, 
Charles, Frank, Cruessa, Henrietta, Mattie, Leonard and Judson. 



Chapter XLL 



HISTORY OF GRAND PARK TOWNSHIP. 

By Edward Evans. 
T came to Detroit from the Black Hills, S. D., June 22, 1882, 
and came to this town from Frazee, the only way at that time, for 
the Shell Prairie road was only opened as far as Erie Town where 
the town hall now stands. We came from Frazee with about the 
only white inhabitant on the east side of the Otter Tail River at that 
time, a man by the name of Molen. He lived in Erie on Section 
14. From his house John H. Jones and I came up here on a 
trail, for that was all the "go" this way then. We found here a 
very nice country, only wild, as were the inhabitants, for the 
Indians were the only inhabitants when we first came. There 
were over a hundred Indians around Height of Land Lake. I be- 
came acquainted with most of them and found them peaceable 
and straight to trade with. After we were here a few days and 
had seen the country and got lost a number of times (I was lost 
on my own place twice) we went to find the best way to cut a 
road to get in and out. After working for three weeks, we came 
out with our road in Erie at Cotton Lake, and I well remember 



644 



A PioNEEii History oi" Bixki-.r Coi.'nt^' 




EDWARD EVANS. 



FRED. EVANS. 



how tj;'ia(l we were. too. The road, such as it was, finished, we be- 
gan to look for places to build, and after iinding them to suit, we 
commenced to cut the big trees and make them into house logs. 
Jones left me about this time here all alone. I was then about six 
miles from Alolen. the nearest white settler. 1 went on with the 
house logs until I had enough, which took me about six weeks, 
during which time I did not see a white man, except A. H. \\'il- 
cox, who was W'ell known out here then among the aborigines, 
as the man that kept a "post-ofifice." He used to pay them bounty 
as county auditor for wolf skins. "A. II." used to stop at my 
abode, which was only a small tent but it served for the time, 
and many a pleasant story I heard from the old pioneer. At the 
same time we could hear four or five Indian pow-wows around 
the lake. These Indian dances used to go on for three or four 
years afterwards, until the white men took their dancing grounds 
and this lake front, and "Poor Lo" left us and now it is hard to 
find his trails. 

In the fall, a party of whites, about seventeen in number came 
in, most of them by the name of Soper. At this time 1 was ready to 
build and they turned to and helped me. and in less than a month 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 645 

I had my house so that 1 could go into it. The Sopers went at it 
and put u]) four or five houses, such as they were. These were 
made entirely by hand with what they call skoot roofs. Lots of 
work, l)ut there were lots of them, and time was more plenty then 
than money. That winter was very cold with deep snow. Some of 
the settlers were very poor, as in any new country, but they all 
]ndled through with big hopes for the future. 

About December I had my house pretty well finished. By 
this time Jack Jones came back and put up a small house and said 
he would use it for a chicken house after a year or two, but Jones 
is the only "chicken" that has been in it yet. When he got back 
I left him in charge of my household, and I went to \\'isconsin to 
get married, and on the 20th of Januar}', 1883, we were back home 
with our friends. 

]\Irs. West. Edward Evans. 

Grand Park Township was organized in 1892, the first town 
election being held at the schoolhouse on Section 27 on the 31st 
day of July, 1892. 

The first set of township officers were: Chairman of board of 
supervisors, Adam Prahler ; supervisors, John Hopsted and Ed- 
ward Evans ; town clerk, Willard Eastman ; assessor, Charles 
Mitchell. 

The next settlers who came after Evans and Jones, were 
Charles Soper and wife, Marcus Soper and Frank Soper. 

Mrs. Charles Soper was the first white woman to settle in 
Grand Park Township. 

Charles and Marcus Soper both took land on Section 28 and 
Frank Soper located on the northwest cjuarter of Section 32. 
There were several others who came with the Soper party, but 
they settled in the township south. These settlers all came into 
the township about the loth of August, 1882, coming from Rooks 
County, Kansas. 

The next settlers were Thomas Lucas and family, Lowell 
Smith and Frank Smith, who came a few months later. 

Edward Evans and Miss Mary Ann Miller are entitled to 
the honor of being the first couple married. 

The first white child born in Grand Park Township was Fred. 
Evans, born April 6th, 1884. 

The first girl born in the township was Katie Jones, born June 
1st, 1884. 



646 



A I'loxEKR History of Becker Couxiy. 



The first death was a little daughter of Lowell Smith and 
granddaughter of ^Iv. and j\Irs. Charles Soper, who died about 




EMMA RENWAXZ. 
First School Teacher in Grand Park. 



KATIE JONES. 



Christmas, 1885. The funeral sermon was preached by J. H. 
Abbey. 

Emma Renwanz taught the first school in the township, com- 
mencing al)out the first of December, i! 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 647 



Chapter XLII. 

HISTORY OF HEIGHT OF LAND TOWNSHIP. 

By Joseph H. Abbey. 

I came to Height of Land in March, 1883, and took a soldier's 
homestead on Section 18 in the said township on the south half of 
the north half of said section. I filed my declaratory statement, 
built a cabin, cleared several acres that sunmier, and cut about 
forty tons of hay. In the winter I cut logs and built a house, 
brought my family here from Frazee the 2d day of April, 1884, 
and have resided here and on the cpiarter section north of it ever 
since. Mr. Shink settled on the cjuarter section where I now live 
with his wife and two children in October, 1883, lived there a 
year then sold out to D. W. Whaples and moved away. Mr. 
Whaples lived here about six years and sold out to Mr. Albrick- 
son of Detroit. I bought the place twelve years ago this spring. 
When we came here the woods were full of deer, bear and moose, 
and all kinds of small game. One morning, about 1892, two 
large moose came within four rods of our door and stood and 
looked at us and the cattle for several minutes, then turned and 
ran away. We had a good Winchester rifle, but not a cartridge in 
the house. 

A petition to organize the township was granted by the board 
of county commissioners on the 6th day of January, 1886, and 
the first township election was ordered to be held at the house 
of Joseph Abbey in Section 18, on the 26th of January, 1886. I 
circulated the petition, traveled all over the township, got the 
proper signers and saw to it that the petition went before the com- 
missioners. At this election the following township ofificers were 
elected to serve until the second Tuesday in March following: 

Chairman of board of supervisors, D. O. Jarvis ; supervisors, 
Mathias Daubenspeck, Ludwig Bartz ; town clerk, E. E. Lange. 

All the settlers but two or three in the township were home- 
steaders. We had no roads and very little money to build roads 
with. A. H. Wilcox, with other help, had laid out a county road 
from Detroit to Shell Lake and the county had opened it. It ran 
from southwest to northeast through the township. This was all 
the road we had, with the exception of an old lumber trail that 



648 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

followed lip the river from Frazee to the outlet of lieight of 
Land Lake. These were all the roads we had, and we had no 
money to make more, bein,^" unable to lev}- taxes, only on what 
little improvements we had in the township, and our personal 
property taxes were small. I was elected clerk of the township in 
1887, and every year for seven years afterwards, and justice of 
peace for ten years. John Guethling was chairman of super- 
visors in 1888, John Sperling second, and ^^'illiam Rosenow third 
supervisor, ^^'e worked things as carefully as possible. Every 
man worked a poll tax of from two to three days, and we opened 
out some roads to the county road, which gave us an outlet to 
Detroit and Frazee. After a few years we began to prove up 
on our homesteads and then began to realize more taxes. Then 
we began to lay out roads convenient to every settler. We ha^'e 
now good roads for a timbered township, as good as roads on the 
prairie. \\'e never issued any bonds and we are out of debt, and 
have several hundred dollars in the treasury, and are in as good 
circumstances as any township in this county. This shows wdiat 
economy with industry will do. A majority of the railroad land 
has been bought and settled, and we have a township as well off 
as an}' other township. A\'e have a number of well-to-do farmers, 
and some are getting wealthy. They are out of debt and they 
possess everything necessary. Mr. A. H. A\'ilcox was a great 
benefit to tliis township in its early struggles. In his luni])er busi- 
ness, it was just like him to employ every man that needed work 
who had a family, which was a great help to the peo])le. Many 
of them kindl}- remember it, and often speak of it. Taking every- 
thing into consideration this is a grand, good township. The 
soil is mostly a gray loam with clay enough to make it very fer- 
tile and has a clay subsoil. Nearly all over the townshi]) there 
has been some heavy grain grown. In 1895, ]\Ir. A\'entz raised 
forty-seven bushels of wheat to the acre. I raised that same year, 
on twelve acres, thirty-five bushels per acre, and many more in 
this township did c(iually as well. \\'e have an abundance of hay 
land to supply the entire township and some to spare. It is of 
excellent (piality. I do not know of a more contented people than 
we have here, and not one has got the Canada fever as they have 
in other places. I consider that every man who has made money 
farming in Becker Countv ought to be called a hero. 



A PioNEii;R History of Be;cker County. 649 

The first settler was Robert Soper from Kansas. He settled 
on the northwest quarter of Section 2, overlooking the shores 
of Height of Land Lake about the 26th of September, 1882. He 
afterwards cleared thirty acres, built a house, lived there several 
years, sold out, moved to AVadena, afterwards went to Dakota anil 
now resides in Canada. He also raised cattle and made farming 
a general business. Mrs. Robert Soper was the first white wo- 
man in the township. 

The next settler in this township was John Davis from near 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He settled on the southwest quarter of 
Section 6 about the 25th of October, 1882, and made it a con- 
tinual residence until after he proved up on his claim. He after- 
wards bought one hundred and fifty acres on Section 5, which 
Mr. M. E. AA^ilcox from Iowa has since purchased. John Davis 
cleared about ten acres and built a comfortable house. His in- 
dustry, while a resident here, was raising sheep and cattle. 

The same year, 1882, the third settler, D. O. Jarvis settled on 
the southwest quarter of Section 2, fronting on Height of Land 
Ivake, about the 5th of October, built a house, cleared about ten 
acres, made farming and trapping game his business. Rear, deer, 
and other game were then in abundance. He lived there five 
years or more and sold out and went to Superior, Wisconsin. 

Two of his children remained here some years. They after- 
wards moved to Park Rapids where they now reside. That same 
fall, two men from Kansas, John Soper and Benjamin Oron took 
claims on Section 8. Oron afterwards went to Colorado and 
died there. 

Al)out this time A. H. A\'ilcox with another man, was cruising 
up through this country, and when traveling over Section 8 he 
came across a big black bear just putting his head out of his 
den. Mr. Wilcox having a small shotgun loaded with fine shot, 
walked up as close as convenient and put the charge into bruin's 
head, putting an end to his career. So much for the plucky 
pioneer. John Soper Ijuilt a house and settled on his claiiu, some 
of which was brush prairie. He soon broke up about twenty 
acres. Soper resided here on the northwest cjuarter of Section 
8 until about 1898, then sold out and went to Wisconsin. He 
afterwards moved to Bemidji, where he now resides. While 
here he made his business farming in summer and lumbering 
in winter for A. H. Wilcox. He built a good frame house and 



650 A Pioneer History of Bi^cker County. 

outbuildings necessary for the place. 'Mv. Pinney Austin now 
resides on and owns the place. He keeps a store. There is an 
Advent church, also a cemetery on the place. 

In June, 1883, the following" men came, making the sixth, 
seventh, eighth and ninth settlers. Carl Sperling, Sr. ; Carl Sper- 
ling Jr., and John Sperling, sons of Carl Sperling, Sr. ; also Fred- 
erick Fechner, son-in-law of Carl Sperling, Sr. ; all four settled on 
Section 20, each getting one hundred and sixty acres. They ar- 
rived at the same time. They have made for themselves comfort- 
able homes. John Sperling has two hundred and forty acres of 
land, with good improvements, a fine house and barn with out- 
buildings, a good stock of cattle and horses with all kinds of ma- 
chinery to work with that is necessary on a farm. 

Carl Sperling, Jr., owns two hundred and forty acres with 
a good comfortable house and barn with outlniildings, also a stock 
of cattle and horses and machinery to carry on a farm. INEr. Carl 
Sperling, Sr., lives with Carl Sperling, Jr. He is now about sev- 
enty-seven years of age, having divided his farm between his sons. 

Mr. Fred Fechner lives on the southeast c[uarter. Section 20, 
which was his homestead. Has a comfortable house, barn and 
outbuildings. He has also bought 280 acres of land, and now 
owns four hundred and forty acres, some of the finest timber 
in the country, has a large stock of cattle and horses, and all 
kinds of machinery for a farm. When he came to Height of 
Land in 1883 he had no team, and a very few dollars in money. 
Continued industry has made him comfortable. He has also raised 
a large family of children. We state this to show what economy 
and industry will do even in a timbered country. 

Mr. John Fichtner settled on the southeast quarter of Section 
30 in the spring of 1884, and has made it his continuous resi- 
dence. His boys have opened a good farm, built comfortable frame 
buildings, and are in good condition. 

Ludwig Ijartz settled on Section 30, southwest ([uarter, in 
1885, and has opened a good farm, has comfortable buildings, and 
has been town clerk, also justice of the peace. 

August ^lews settled on Section 1,2 about 1S85, on the north- 
west cpiarter. He owns land on Section 29 and several other 
places in the county : he is well-to-do, we might say rich for a 
farmer. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 651 

AMlliam Rosenow settled on Section t,2, northeast quarter. 
He owns land in Section 29, and has opened a good farm, and 
is in comfortable circumstances. 

In the year 1884, April nth, John Chapman settled on the 
north half of Section 18, having been here before and built a 
house. He lived here continuously until three years ago when 
his wife died. Since that time his son, Grant Chapman, has made 
the home his residence. 

H. G. ]\IcCart, of Detroit in 1883 filed on the south half of 
Section 18, built a cabin, brought his family there from time to 
time, in the year 1887 sold out his interests to Charles Sheldon, 
who has made it his continual residence ever since. He has a 
well located farm, a good meadow, and other things convenient. 

In 1885 cjuite a number of settlers came to this township. Mr. 
John Guethling from Carver County, Minnesota, settled on Sec- 
tion 21, northeast quarter. He has opened a fine farm, erect- 
ed good buddings. The soil on his farm is very fertile. 

Mr. Ludwig- Golke settled on the northwest quarter of Section 
22 in 1884, and opened a rich farm which sold last year for about 
$3,000. He went back to Carver County, Minnesota, in 1905. 

IMichael Graboritz settled on the northeast ciuarter of Section 
22 in 1885. He sold out and moved to Arkansas, afterwards he 
moved back and is now a resident of this township. 

A. A\^othe settled and opened up a farm on Section 16, sold 
out and went to Arkansas, but afterwards returned. 

August Schafer lives on the southwest quarter Section 32. He 
settled there about 1887 and has a fine farm. 

Joseph Frick settled on Section 7,2, southeast quarter in 1887, 
and died there several years ago. Mr. Ernst married his widow, 
a daughter of Mr. Triegiafl^ of Burlington Township. 

W'ilhelm Sunram settled on Section 28 the southwest quarter 
in 1885, and opened a choice farm. He died there in the spring 
of 1904 and left a widow in good circumstances with a familv. 

Gerhard AVettels settled on Section 16 in 1889 and lived 
there about one year. Afterwards settled on Section 30, north- 
west cjuarter, and bought eighty acres across the line in the town- 
ship of Erie, and cleared up a good farm. He has everything to 
make a farmer comfortable. 

Mathias Daubenspeck settled on Section 28 in 1885, and has 
made a respectable home on the southeast quarter, and is comfor- 
tablv situated. 



652 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Jacol) Wefers settled on the northeast quarter of Section 2'8> 
about 1885. He has a choice farm, and looks as if he had plenty 
of this world's goods. 

\\'illiam Daubenspeck settled on Section 28 in 1885, the north- 
east cpiarter, and has fine buildings and improvements, and every- 
thing indicates prosperity. 

August Daubenspeck settled on Section 21 and has made a 
choice home and surroundings. 

Mr. Blanert lives on Section 21 and has a splendid farm. He 
has grubbed the timber all out by the roots, and has a large clear- 
ing and raises over one thousand bushels of wheat per year, and 
other grains in equal proportions. 

August Wentz lives on Section 21, northwest quarter, and has 
things very comfortable. He came from ■Missouri. 

Henry Oelfke settled on the southeast quarter of Section 26 in 
1886. He was the father of Fred and Carl Oelfke. Air. Oelfke 
died on the 13th of Nov. 1892. Carl Oelfke came with his father 
and located with him on the southeast quarter of Section 26 in 
1886 and still resides on the same land. He is a hunter and a 
farmer, and has a farm with some very fine butternut trees at the 
back of his house. He told me last summer that they were eight- 
een years old. They were full of nuts and were quite as thrifty 
as those I have seen in Olmstead County. He is chairman of the 
supervisors of this township. 

Mr. Carl Oelfke is a veteran hunter, and has undoubtedly 
killed more "big game" than any other man in Becker Countv. 
He says he has killed in the vicinity of his home, in the last twenty 
years, 247 deer, 52 wolves. 35 lynx, 5 bears besides a great many 
wildcats, foxes, minks, rabbits and other small game. 

Fred. Oelfke settled on the northeast (|uarter of Section 34 in 
1886 and is now the possessor of 320 acres of fine land and is a 
well-to-do farmer, with fine buildings and large, well cultivated 
fields. He has been township clerk for years. Fred has also been 
something of a hunter himself, having killed about twenty deer 
and two l:)ears during his residence in the township. 

Mr. Brinkman is an old settler and lives on Section 34. He is 
well fixed and has good buildings and large improvements. 

Edward Lange came to this township in 1885, took his home- 
stead on Section 14 and has a good farm. He is a prosperous far- 
mer. 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 653 

Jacob Lange lives on Section 10. He came in 1885. 

Joseph S. Milton settled on Section 8 in 1885, coming from 
Kentucky. He sold out and went to Louisiana. 

Harris Eastman settled in the southwest quarter of Section 
8, proved up and went to live with his son Willard Eastman in 
township of Grand Park. 

These and other settlers in the township too numerous to 
mention are all in fair circumstances. We are all working men in 
this township. \\'e have no use for any other kind of settlers, 
and we do not solicit any other kind. 

William AX'inter located on the north part of Section 26 in 
August, 1885, and after living there about fifteen years moved to 
Section 35, Grand Park Township. 

Julius B. Galbrecht located on the southeast quarter of Section 
26 not long afterwards where he opened up a good farm. 

Carl Winter has a good farm on Section 23. 

The first school in Height of Land Township was taught by 
Jessie Herrick (now Mrs. Jessie Greenlaw) who commenced on 
the nth day of February, 1889, in District No. 49. The district 
then included all of the east half of Height of Land Township, 
and the schoolhouse stood on Section 10. 

The first birth in the township was that of Adelena Graboritz, 
who was born on the 20th of September, 1885, daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. Michael Graboritz. 

The first white boy born in the township was Frederick Her- 
man Fichner, born December 26th, 1885, son of Frederick and Wil- 
helmine Fichner. Elizabeth Daubenspeck, four years of age, was 
the first person to die in the township, her death occurring on the 
nth of May, 1888. The first people married in the township were 
Benjamin W. Oren and Maggie A. Wilson, who were married on 
the 22d of October. 1883, by George W. Taylor, J. P. 

Joseph H. Abbey. 



654 A PioNDE^R History of Becker County. 

Chapter XLIII. 

SHELL PRAIRIE ROAD. 

In June, 1880, I was sent in charge of a party of surveyors to 
examine and appraise several townships of land for the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Compau}- in the Shell Prairie region. C. G. 
Sturtevant was with me on that trip, it being his first experience 
in that line of business. Jake SheiTer, of early date notoriety, 
went along as cook and teamster. At that time there were only 
two roads leading to that section of country, one from Wadena 
and the other from Detroit, north by way of the White Earth 
.\gency, and the old Leech Lake government road. As it w'as 
impossible to cross Leaf River north of A\^adena, at that time on 
account of high w^ater, we were obliged to go by way of White 
Earth. The roads were muddy and rough, and it took three days 
of hard travel to make the trip. The first settlers we found there 
were George M. Carson and family, and J. E. Siegford and Frank 
Siegford, father and son, who had just taken homesteads o'l Sec- 
tion 18, town of Osage. The Siegfords still reside on the same 
land. These men were among the first settlers on the Shell Prai- 
ries in Becker County. 

I was authorized to take the census of what few settlers were 
in that part of the county, and I found just forty-three people, 
young and old, in what are now Osage and Carsonville Townships, 
and they were all the white inhabitants there were at that time in 
the whole east half of Becker County. This, however, has nothing 
to do with the road. 

When we returned to Detroit later in the season we went by 
way of Wadena, which was more than eighty miles by the road 
from the nearest point on the Shell Prairies, in Becker County. 
The next winter we were sent back by the railroad company on 
the same business, and worked in the country in and around the 
Shell Prairies all winter and were still obliged to go and come 
by Wadena, two long days' ride with a team from where Osage 
is now. I saw at a glance that the settlement on these prairies 
was going to be a very important one, and that connection with 
Detroit and Frazee was a matter of the utmost importance to all 
concerned, and that a direct road was a matter of prime neces- 
sity. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 655 

In November, 1881, Dewit Clason brought the election returns 
of the first election ever held in Carsonville to Detroit, and on his 
arrival his clothes were wet through and torn where he had waded 
swamps and gone through the bush on the way over. 

In the fall of 1881, I was elected county auditor, and at the 
first meeting of the board of county commissioners, I urged upon 
them the importance of making an appropriation for a road to 
Shell Prairie. Three of them, however, lived in the western part 
of the county, and could not see the propriety of expending money 
through a country totally uninhabited, and which, as one of them 
declared, would never be settled, and nothing was done at that 
time. As soon as the board adjourned, I hired C. G. Sturtevant 
and C. J. Shaw upon my own responsibility, and paid them out 
of m}- own pocket to look up a route for a road. I was quite 
familiar with the country from Detroit, to the east line of Height 
of Land Township, and knew a good road could be made that 
far ; so I instructed them to begin at the quarter section corner on 
the west side of Section 6 in the town of Toad Lake and run an air 
line through to where the village of Osage now stands, and to ex- 
amine the country on both sides of their line for a considerable 
distance. They took their blankets and provisions on their backs, 
slejit out in the snow at night, running the lines with a small com- 
pass, and counting their footsteps by way of measurements. 

They found the country south of Shell Lake too hilly and 
rough for a good road. It is so hilly and cut up with swamps that 
nearly all the travel from the Shell Prairies goes around on the 
north side of Shell Lake to this day, although it is a good many 
miles further. The present Shell Prairie road follows a natural 
ridge much of the way. Between Shell Lake and Height of Land 
Lake it follows along near the natural divide, between the waters 
of the Mississippi and Red River for a considerable distance. 

W hen Sturtevant and Shaw came back to Detroit, they brought 
a small army of eighteen or twenty men with them. They had 
come by both land and water, or rather by land and by ice. They 
followed the old Leech Lake road back to the prairie north of 
Shell Lake, then across the lake to its west end, thence in a south- 
westerly direction to the southeast corner of Height of Land Lake, 
taking in as many ponds and marshes as possible, cutting just 
enough brush and timber to get through from one marsh or pond to 
another. Thev crossed an arm of Height of Land Lake on the ice, 



656 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

and then followed Frazee's logging and tote roads to Pat. O'Neil's 
place in the town of Burlington, then by the present wagon road 
to Detroit. 

The merchants and business men of Detroit received this crowd 
of men with open arms, and were so well pleased to learn that they 
had cut a road through from Shell Prairie, and were so prepossessed 
with their good looks and winning ways that they loaded them down 
with dry goods and groceries and provisions and they all went 
home rejoicing. As nearly every man in the party had a team 
with him. the amount of plunder they took home was considerable. 

The general route selected by Sturtevant and Shaw on this 
trip was a good one. the best in existence and much of the work 
done at that time was so exactly in the right place that a consid- 
erable extent of the road has never been changed, but as soon as 
the ice melted in the swamps and ponds in the spring, the road 
was impassable for a considerable distance, and travel to and from 
v^hell Prairie was impossible, except on foot. 

At the meeting of the county commissioners, the next July, a 
m(M"e liberal view of the matter was taken and the sum of $300 
was appropriated to be expended under my directions. I started 
out from Detroit one day late in September to look over the road, 
straighten it out. and locate it on dry land. — where it crossed the 
ponds and swamps — and let contracts for improvements as far as 
the $300 would permit. There was no road east of Detroit at 
that time, beyond Section 20 in the town of Erie, wdiere James 
Norris then lived. John Shoenberger and Charles E. -Nlolen were 
living on the Otter Tail River in the town of Erie, and there were 
a few settlers, including the Soper family, west of Height of Land 
Lake, but they had all gone in from the direction of Frazee, fol- 
lowing my old survey road of 1870 up the Otter Tail River. Rob- 
ert Soper had, however, taken a homestead on Section 2 in the 
town of Height of Land east of the lake by that name, but had 
made no improvements. He had sent me word, a few days before, 
that on a certain day he was going to move his family across the 
lake, and I could stay with them when I came over to look out the 
road. I reached the east side of Height of Land Lake just as it 
was getting dark, but found no sign of the Soper family. I had 
traveled fifteen miles that afternoon through the woods and was 
tired and hungry and wet. I walked north along the shore for a 
mile or more in the dark lookinu' for the boat that had brought 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 657 

the family over. I then went up the creek that runs into the lake 
on the township line, traveling through the water and tall grass 
thinking perhaps they had taken their boat up to their homestead 
by that route. I then tramped nearly all over Section 2, shouting 
occasionally until eleven o'clock at night, when I gave up and went 
to bed without supper, blankets or fire. A couple of hoot owls 
in trees near by kept me company and a pack of wolves kept up 
a serenade for several hours, but they kept at a respectable distance. 
The next morning I was up bright and early ; I was cold and hun- 
gry and the morning was frosty, and I was obliged to walk five 
miles to breakfast going around the north end of Height of Land 
Lake through the brush and tamarack swamps, wading the Otter 
Tail River, where Charley Mitchell now lives and around to Sec- 
tion 28 in the present town of Grand Park, where Charles Soper 
was then living in a tent. After breakfast from there I started 
back east through the woods following an Indian trail north of 
Island Lake and reached the residence of Tyree Doran on Section 
2, town of Shell Lake at noon. That afternoon and the next day, 
I marked the road back to Height of Land Lake, and let contracts 
for the opening of the whole line back to the Otter Tail River. 
The next winter, 1882 and 1883, I took a few men from Detroit, 
who had volunteered a day's work each, and cut a road from 
James Norris' place to the Otter Tail River, and from there on 
east to the east line of the township. The next day I took a team 
and cutter and drove over the new road to its intersection with the 
Frazee road and put up a signboard, which read : "This is the 
way to Detroit." ]\Irs. \A ilcox went with me on this trip, and she 
was the first woman who ever went over the Shell Prairie road, 
beyond the Otter Tail River. We tipped over going home. 

About the first of February I made a trip over the entire road 
for the purpose of inspecting the work which had been done, and 
Mrs. Wilcox went with me on this trip. On our return we stayed 
over night at Tyree Doran's on the Shell Lake Prairie, and the 
next morning started on our way home. The morning was bit- 
terly cold, 30 or 40 below zero, the roads were rough and the snow 
deep, but not deep enough to keep the sleigh from striking the 
stumps and rocks that were thick along the road. There had 
been but few teams over the road, so the traveling was slow and 
hard. All went well, however, until we had passed Shell Lake, 
when going down a steep hill on a fast trot, we struck a big rock 



658 A PioxivER History oi" Bkckkr County. 

which upset the sleigh and pitched us both out into the snow. I 
chmg to the hnes, but the horses began to run and I was dragged 
some (Ustance, when I was caught in a stump, which broke my 
hold and the horses ran ofif with the cutter, which was dragging 
on its side. I made a fire for Mrs. Wilcox as best I could, but 
there was no dry wood near b\-, and it did not last long. The 
snow was two feet deep and the cold was intense, but there was 
no other way to do but to get the team back or else Mrs. Wil- 
cox would soon freeze to death. There were no settlers in that 
direction nearer than Otter Tail River, twelve miles distant, but 
Frazee had a lumber camp about six miles ahead, and I did not ex- 
pect to find the team until T reached the camp and perhaps not 
then; but as good luck would have it, the cutter had dragged all 
the way on its side, so that the horses became tired and in about 
three miles they had stopped. When I returned, Mrs. Wilcox 
had frozen her feet, hands and face. We proceeded as far as 
the long corduroy, a little north of where the schoolhouse now 
stands on Section 29, when we came to an Indian camp. The In- 
dians, who built the camp had just abandoned it, and there was a 
little fire still burning, and a small (|uantity of dry wood, all ready 
to kindle the fire. We got well warmed up, but sufi:'ered severely 
befoTe we reached home on account of the intense cold. Mrs. 
Wilcox's hands and feet never fully recovered from the efifects of 
that terrible ride. 

In the fall of 1882, T. K. Torgerson. of the township of Cuba, 
was elected to the legislature, receiving e^'ery vote in Erie and 
Carsonville, the only towns then organized on the line of this mad, 
and he secured an appropriation of $800 for the road from the 
state of Minnesota. With this money the bridge across the Otter 
Tail River on Section 23, in Erie, was built, also the bridge across 
the inlet to Shell Lake and a number of other bridges of smaller 
size. The county commissioners were also generous, and made 
liberal apportionments for several years afterwards. 

Some time during the summer of 1883, the honorable board of 
county commissioners conceived it to be their duty to make a per- 
sonal examination of this road, so they appointed themselves a 
committee of the whole for that purpose, and, being in an econom- 
ical frame of mind about that time, they decided to go on foot. 
The board at that time consisted of T. W. Chilton, Hans Ebeltoft, 
F. B. Chapin, T. \\\ Dunlap and Olaf Bjornstad. The old say- 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 659 

ing that "large bodies move slowly" was true in their case, and 
as some of them were tenderfeet, they only reached the west end 
of Shell Lake when night set in. It w^as still three miles to the 
nearest settler, but a member or two of the party were so com- 
pletely exhausted that they could go no farther, so they camped 
there for the night without supper, bedding, or any protection from 
the mosquitoes, of which there were millions in those days. 
Chapin, however, had his pipe and tobacco with him, so he passed 
the night quite comfortably. 

During the years from 1883 to the time the Great Northern 
Railroad was built to Park Rapids, there was a large amount of 
travel over the road to Detroit and Frazee, but since that it has 
fallen off to a sreat extent. 



Chapter XLIV. 

HISTORY OF SILVER LEAF TOWNSHIP. 

The first settler in Silver Leaf Township was Frank Gebo. 
He built a house on Section 30 about twenty rods east of where the 
Adam Schueller house now stands late in the fall or early in the 
winter of 1882 and 1883. He and his son Samuel Gebo claimed 
a joint ownership in the house and some time in the winter they 
gave the use of it to a soldier of the civil war, whose name I 
have forgotten. He moved his w'ife into the house and sometime 
that winter a child was born there, which was the first white child 
born in Silver Leaf Township. 

About the first of February Samuel Gebo went to Detroit and 
filed a homestead on the land where this house was built, but 
before the papers w^ere sent to the Crookston Land Ofilice William 
Redpath took a train and went to Crookston, and filed a homestead 
on a part of the same land, which took precedence over Gebo's 
filing. Redpath built a shanty a few rods north of where the 
Schueller house now stands, and had a large amount of wood cut 
that w^inter, over which there was no end of trouble. Andy Kenan 
took this place in 1887, and lived there for several years, and made 
final proof. 

In the spring of 1883 Samuel Gebo took another claim on Sec- 
tion 20, but did not remain there long. 



66o A P*ioxEER History of Becker County. 

In the month of September, 1883, WilHam and Charles Rabanus, 
both single men, took claims on Section 26 and resided there for 
several years ; they were the first permanent settlers in the township. 

Charles Rabanus and Betsy Ebbcrson were married on the 17th 
of October, 1885, and were the first people married in Silver Leaf 
Township. 

George Bucl came to Silver Leaf Township on the 5th of No- 
vember, 1883, and settled on the east half of the east half of Sec- 
tion 30, and built a house that same fall. 

Silver Leaf Township was so named from the silvery appearance 
of the leaves of the poplar with which this township abounds. 

Airs. Buel was the first white woman to settle permanently 
in the township. She came with her husband in November, 1883. 

In the spring of 1884, Wm. Evans and Ludwig Bunse settled 
on Section 24 and John Zeler came in the spring of 1885 and 
settled on the same section. 

In the spring of 1884, George Schwoboda settled on the east 
tier of forties on Section 18, and Anthony Schwoboda located on 
Section 8 not long afterwards. 

Rudolph Boll says : "I settled on the northeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 6 in the town of Silver Leaf in the fall of 1885. I l)uilt my 
house and moved into it on the 27th of October of that }-ear, and 
E. E. Phelps settled at the same time on the same section." 

In June, 1885, Harry and Lambert Stokes settled on Section 
4, and Adolph Ernst located on the northwest c[uarter of Section 6 
in 1887, and after that time settlers came in fast. 

In 1877 Gerhard Schrammen located on Section 4, and Will- 
iam Trieglafi^ settled on the northeast cpiarter of Section 8 the 
next year. 

The other settlers, who came during the 8o"s, were Wm. Seek, 
on Section 24, Mike Warter on Section 18, the Illgs on Section 
2, George Cork on Section 8, George Manning on Section 20, 
Charles Lord on Section 30, S. H. Tripp on Section 22, Ernest 
Schmidt on Section 28, and Louis Koenig on Section 21. 

Tlie other early settlers were August Trieglafl^ on Section 17, 
John Schueller on Section 20, Gus. Reibe on Section 24, Herman 
Galbrecht on Section 21, F. Galbrecht on Section 8, F. Plackner 
on Section 9, and Dedrick Williamson on Section 2. 

Silver Leaf Township was organized on the 3rd day of March, 
1888, and the first township election was held on that day at the 
house of Harry Stokes on Section 4. 



A PioNKER History of Becker County. 66i 

The first set of township officers were : Chairman of board of 
supervisors, Charles Lord ; supervisors, S. H. Tripp, Ford Green ; 
township clerk, George Buel ; assessor, Reuben Prouty ; justices 
of the peace, John L. Stokes, Louis Koenig ; constables, Charles 
Rabanus, George Manning; treasurer, Rudolph Boll. 

Margaret Graham taught the first school in Silver Leaf Town- 
ship in the spring of 1893. 

R. L. Frazee had a logging camp on Section 5 in the winter 
of 1882 and 1883, which was run by Samuel Pearce. 

There was another small lumber camp on Section 23 that same 
winter. 

The first death in the township was that of a small child of 
W^m. Seck's, who died on Section 24, in the year 1885. 



Murder and Suicide. 

The little log house on the Tripp farm, about six miles east 
of Frazee, in the town of Silver Leaf, this county, the home of 
L M. Van Sickler and wife, was the scene of one of the most hor- 
rible tragedies ever enacted in Northern Minnesota, last Saturday 
night. November 19th, 1892. Van Sickler, a man of about forty 
years, has lived in and about Frazee for several years, and has al- 
ways been a peaceable citizen, we understand, and generally con- 
sidered a good-natured, jovial fellow. During the past harvest 
season he was at work in Dakota, and only a few weeks ago he 
returned to this county accompanied b}' his wife, a young w^oman 
of about twenty-five, and they have since made their home on 
the Tripp farm. Mrs. A'an Sickler is said to have been a woman 
of attractive appearance, and somewhat gay in her manner. Ed- 
ward Buel, a young man about twenty-one, was engaged as a 
farm hand, and lived with the Van Sicklers. About a month ago 
Frank C. Brown, of Fargo, in company with two friends, went 
into camp in the neighborhood for the purpose of hunting deer. 
This camp was kept up for two weeks or more, when two of the 
partv returned home, leaving Brown to continue the hunt and he 
arranged to stay at the home of Van Sickler and wife, with whom 
he had become acquainted. It is stated that he was cautioned 
against this, and warned that trouble would come from his intimacy 
with the woman, but he persisted in his purpose to remain. It was 
his intention to return to Fargo last Sundav, and Saturdav he 



(^2 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

and Mrs. Van Sickler and Buel went to Frazee, returning to the 
farm at night. 

That evening all joined in a carousal which terminated in the 
murder of Brown and the woman, and the suicide of \'an Sickler. 
Just what transpired in that log cabin before the perpetration of 
this horrible crime will probably never be known. It seems that 
the husband and wife got into a quarrel, and in a drunken frenzy 
Van Sickler got his revolver and shot his wife through the wrist, 
shattering it terribly. He then immediately seized Brown's Win- 
chester, a very heavy one, and in quick succession sent two l)ullets 
crashing through her body, and she fell dead. He then turned 
upon Brown, who was not more than ten feet from him. and again 
tired. The ball took efifect in the hip, and passed nearly through 
the body, lodging just under the skin on the opposite side. Brown 
dropped, and the crazed demon then turned the rifle against his 
own breast, and pulled the trigger the fourth time. He received 
a terrible wound and fell beside the body of his dead wife, but 
the shot did not prove fatal. He raised himself up, bemoaned his 
terrible deed, and begged young Buel, who had stood riveted to 
the spot with terror, to take the rifle and complete the work of 
death by putting a second bullet through his brain. He grasped 
the young man by the hand and implored him to do his bidding, 
but this caused Buel to realize his own great danger, and he 
fled to the house of a neighbor, and recounted the terrible scene 
of which he had been a witness. As he left the house he heard 
another shot from the rifle, and later it was found that \'an Sickler, 
to make certain his own destruction, had placed the muzzle of the 
rifle into his mouth and blew the top of his head oiT. 

Hopes were at first entertained of Brown's recovery. His 
father was telegraphed for, and he arrived from Fargo Sunday 
night. The injury, however, proved fatal, and on Tuesday morning 
the unfortunate young man died. 

Frank Brown was a printer by trade, and worked on the Fargo 
Forum. He formerly lived in Detroit with his parents, and most 
of our people knew him well, and liked him. 

Geo. D. FIamii.Tox in Detroit Record. 



A Pioneer History oF Becker County. 663 



Chapter XLV. 



THE TOWNSHIP OF EVERGREEN. 

By Chas. S. Palmer. 

Township 138, Range 38, was heavily timbered with pine, 

spruce, oak, tamarack, ehn, poplar, white birch and other woods. 

In 1880 there were about five million feet of standing white pine. 

Al. Pelton during the year 1882 built a logging camp on Section 




CHAS. S. PALMER. 



36, employing about forty men, and on Section 34 Aaron Scrib- 
ner located a camp of about twenty men. These camp crews 
logged on Sections 34, 35 and 36, and during that winter cut and 
hauled about two million feet, and a similar cjuantity the following 
winter. These logs were hauled on heavy sleds to Section 19, and 
there unloaded on the bank of Toad River, being afterward floated 
down the Toad, Otter Tail and Red Rivers to Winnipeg, the 
drive requiring about 115 days. Prior to the year 1882 there was 
heavy logging on Sections 19, 20 and 29 by Clark and McClure of 



664 '^ Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Saint Cloiul, the logs being sawed at their mill one mile east of 
Perham. Later there were small portable sawmills brought to 
the township which manufactured a large portion of the remain- 
ing timber. 

Twenty-five years ago there was considerable large game con- 
sisting of bears, big timber wolves and lynx. There were also a 
few moose, and deer were very plentiful. 

The first actual settler was Charles Scribner who settled on 
Section i8 in the year 1882. On Thanksgiving Day, 1884, he was 
married to Rosy Allen of Corliss Township, Otter Tail County, 
who died the following autumn. In 1877, Mr. Scribner removed 
to the ]\Iouse River country in Xorth Dakota, where he now re- 
sides. 

Ewald Bohne and his wife, Jennie, came from Hastings, Alin- 
nesota, in February, 1883, and located a homestead on Section 20. 
There they lived until the year 1898, when they moved to Section 
19, where they now reside. Their son Fred was born in January, 
1885, being the second white child born in the township. 

Frank Omans and his wife arrived from Michigan in October, 
1883, and settled on Section 32, where they still live. Their son 
Earl, born in August, 1884, is the first white child born in the town- 
ship. 

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Clifford moved from Perham during the 
winter of 1884-5, ^"^ settled on Section 34. Their daughter Boni- 
belle Altha, born March 23, 1886, is the first girl born in Ever- 
green. In 1887 j\Ir. Clifford moved to Spruce Grove where they 
now live, Airs. Clifford being postmistress of Cliff'ord post-office. 

During the years 1886 and 1887 about twenty families settled 
in the township. On Januar}- 4, 1888, the board of county com- 
missioners organized the township, naming it Evergreen because 
of the number of evergreen trees in it. The first town meeting 
was held at the home of Emil Materne on Section 20, March 13, 
1888. ^^^ R. Morton was chosen moderator ; Emil ]\Iaterne, clerk ; 
W. R. Morton, John Pick and Chas. Howard were elected super- 
visors ; W. A. Kennedy, clerk ; J. W. Southard, assessor ; John Mil- 
ler, constable; and Sargent Palmer, justice of the peace. 

Those present and voting at the first annual town meeting, in 
line as they voted, were : John Rick, W. R. Morton, Nick Leyen- 
decker, Antony Sagenschneider, Joe Pope, E. Alaterne, C. Pope, 
C. Limpensel, Ewald Bohne, John Hauser, Hans Hauser. J. \\'. 



A Pionke;r History of Becker County, 665 

Southard, Jr., A. W. Furber, Garry Omans, H. A. Barron, J. W. 
Southard, Sr., Sargent Pahner, Charles S. Pahiier, Charles Rick, 
Sam. McKibben, C. H. King, Wm. A. Kennedy, Frank Omans, 
John Miller, Ed. Southard. 

C)ne day in the summer of 1888, an ox team which Mrs. Mat- 
erne was driving along the road became frightened by a bear and 
ran away, throwing her from the wagon and breaking her leg. 
The fracture was quickly and properly set by Dr, W, R. Morton. 

In the fall of 1887 Arnold Kohler and John Adams, settlers 
living on Section 18, became involved in a quarrel in Mr. Kohler's 
house. Kohler became enraged and seizing a gun struck at 
Adams, who dodged behind the stove. The gun struck the stove 
chimney and was discharged, killing Kohler. Adams was arrest- 
ed, and taken to the county jail at Detroit, but was later dis- 
charged from custody afer a trial. 

In February, 1895, M. Burfield, of Star Lake, Otter Tail Coun- 
ty, set a portable sawmill on Section 34. While hauling a large 
load of logs from Section 2 the clevis holding the short tongue of 
the hind sled became loose, allowing the tongue to drop down and 
stick in the frozen snow of the road. The team hauled the load 
over the short tongue and when it reached a vertical position the 
load tipped over. Mr. Burfield being an old man and heavily 
wrapped in blankets, could not jump clear of the load, but fell be- 
side the sled and was instantly crushed to death under the falling 
logs. 

In April, 1898, Charles H. Lamphier and L. Jeswin, living on 
Section 34, became engaged in a quarrel over Mrs. Jeswin crossing 
a field, which Lamphier was seeding, and the wives of both men 
took an active part in the scrimmage. Lamphier's boy brought 
out a gun to his father, Jeswin's son then took a hand in the 
melee, and things became generally mixed. How it happened will 
probably never be clearly known, but the gun was discharged, kill- 
ing Jeswin instantly. Lamphier was arrested, and court being 
then in session he was sentenced to the state penitentiary for life. 
Just two weeks from the day of the killing he was on his way to 
Stillwater to serve his sentence. Through numerous petitions 
secured by his wife, his sentence was afterwards commuted to six 
years, and at the end of four years he was released on parole. 
Having lived out his parole as a good citizen he is now a free man. 
Jeswin was a good citizen. 



666 A PioNEUR HisToKv OF Becker County. 

Ill 1 901, Woodland post-office was moved from Corliss Town- 
ship in Otter Tail County to Section 28 in Evergreen, and two 
years later a German Lutheran church was Iniilt on Section 17. 
In the township there are now a post-office, a church and four 
schoolhouses. Hattie Howard was the first school teacher in 
Evergreen, teaching in a log schoolhouse on Section 14. which 
was hurned at the time of the big Hinckley fire. During this fire the 
whole township burned over, clearing whole areas. Settlers took 
advantage of the easy clearing and moved in freely, and now there 
are about eighty voters in the township. While much damage re- 
sulted from the fire in the burning of timber, the benefit in clear- 
ing the land largely compensated for the loss. 

May, 1905. 
Mrs. West. 



I 



Chapter XLVL 



HISTORY OF SPRUCE GROVE TOWNSHIP. 

By INIrs. Delia A. Clifford. 

August 4th, 1895. 

I wish very much to assist you in your work concerning the county, 
and hope the enclosed will help a little. 

In 1885, Sylvanus Hall came from Irving, Iowa to Butler, Otter Tail 
County, Minnesota to visit his son Jonah and family. He in company with 
his son and neighbors were hunting on December 26, his son being in 
advance he heard a cry and on looking around saw his father standing on a 
log who said. "Jonah, I am shot." His son reached him in time to catch 
him as he fell. He only lived a short time. He was 71 years old. The 
body was taken to his old home in Irving, Iowa, to be buried. The hunting 
and accident were in Spruce Grove, Becker County. 

In 1884, Paul Troppman moved his family from Sanborn, Iowa, ti> 
Spruce Grove, and put up a sawmill on the Red Eye River. The next 
summer while running the saw he slipped, his foot striking the saw nearly 
severing the foot from the leg. The nearest surgeon was at Perham, 
twenty miles distant, amputation was necessary, which with loss of blood 
and the shock of the injury proved too much for him. He died about 
sundown of the same day. He was fifty years of age and was buried at 
Devil's Lake near Perham, Minn. 

The following winter the mill passed into the hands of creditors, one 
of whom sent a family named Tubbs to occupy the house and run the mill. 
They had in their employ a Mr. Thomas Cassady, a nephew of Mrs. Peter 
Schram, all of Spruce Grove, he having a homestead in said town an.':! be- 
ing a young married man of twenty-four years. His bride came from Cana- 
da to Perham, where they were married in February. He was savirg 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



667 



shingles, the blocks were icy, one slipped from his hands, struck the 
saw, flew back striking him squarely in the face, knocking him down; 
with help he walked to the house a few rods away. A physician was sent 
for from Perham, who dressed his wounds, and giving directions as to 
the treatment. He left telling the young wife her husband would surely 
live. At midnight he insisted on changing his clothes and did so alone. 
In an hour he was a corpse, and his bride of two weeks a widow. His 
remains were buried in the cemetery at Perham. 

From 1884, the year we moved into Becker County, until 1888 there 
were no mail facilities in this country at all. The nearest post-olSce was 




MRS. DELIA A. CLIFFORD. 



Perham or Frazee, each eighteen miles. Our mail was brought by whoever 
went to Perham, bringing: for everv familv for miles around: therefore 
it was handled by any number of hands before it reached us in all con- 
ditions, if at all. Often it was mislaid or lost entirely. On going to town 
one time, mail was found scattered along the road for a distance of 
three miles, lost out of a man's overcoat pocket. C. H. Clifford sent a 
petition to Washington asking for a post-office and mail route. The 
post-office was granted immediately and named Clififord with C. H. 
Clififord as postmaster. The mail was carried the first year by his eldest 
son, Alfred H., without any specified conveyance or salary. He gen- 
erally went out and back once a week, mostly with an ox team, taking him 
two days for a trip. Sometimes he would strap the mail on his back 
and go out and back on foot in one day. At the end of the year he was 



668 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

appointed mail carrier by the department for two years with a small 
salary, making two trips a week. At the end of his term, Charles A. Rick 
was appointed for a term of four years and performed his duties faith- 
fully, losing but two trips in four years. J. B. Miller succeeded him 
making three trips a week. March 2nd, 1896, C. H. Clifford resigned, 
his wife Delia I. Clifford being appointed postmistress in his place. 
During that time Spruce Grove, where Clifford post-of^ce was located, 
was organized, also three school districts, schoolhouses built, roads laid 
out, bridges built, and in the spring of 1896 there were scarcely forty acres 
either homestead or railroad land to be had in the town. 

Yours sincerely. 
To Mrs. West. Mrs. Deli.-\ A. Clifford. 

This township was org-anized in 1889. The first town election 
being- held Januaury 19th, 1889, at the home of Alfred Blanchard. 
The first town board consisted of: Chairman, Henry Shafer ; 
treasurer, Charles Maehler and clerk, Perry Vincent. 

As the predominant timber in the town was everg-reens, it 
was called Spruce Grove. The township was heavily timbered with 
pine — five million feet. Spruce, balsam, oak, poplar, birch, elm, 
basswood, ironwood, and tamarack with less quantities of other 
varieties. It is noted for its wild fruits consisting of plums, cher- 
ries, currants, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, gooseberries 
and June-berries. 

It has lakes and rivers abounding in fish, pike, bass, pickerel, 
sunfish, red-horse and suckers. 

Game is plentiful, among which are moose, deer, bear, wolves, 
lynx, wild cats, skunks, mink, muskrat, etc., partridges, chickens 
and ducks. There is abundance of wild hay. 

School District No. 52 was organized September loth, 1887. 
The school board was: C. H. Clifford, director; treasurer, Charles 
Maehler; and clerk, Henry Shafer. The first school was held in 
the fall of 1887 in the private house of Fred Bonan with Aliss 
Addie Coombs, of Detroit, ]\Iinn., as teacher. The schoolhouse 
was built in 1888 of logs. 

The first settlers were Jorgen Dornbush and wife, whose maiden 
name was Casina Freie ; both were born in Germany, and they 
were married in Houston County, Minn. They moved from there 
in January, 1880. Five children were born to them. Mrs. Dorn- 
bush died in April, 1884, and was buried at Perham. Minn. In 
August of the same year Mr. Dornbush married Miss Mary Alt- 
man, of Gormantown ; ten children blessed their union. After a 
residence of twenty-two years and two months in Spruce Grove they 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 669 

moved with their children and grandchildren to Alberta, Canada. 

Settlers following Mr. Dornbnsh the first two years were Fred 
and Charles ]\Iaehler and families, John Hnsen, Aug. Beckman 
and wife, Fred Voight, Henry Shafer and family and then 
several families of Finns. The first conple married was Fred 
Voight of Spruce Grove and Mrs. Elizabeth Meyers (widow) of 
Gormantown. The Rev. Krattchmer officiating. 

The first birth was twins born to Mr. and Mrs. August Beck- 
man, a boy and a girl. 

The first death, Turgen Christoft' Dornbusch, father of Jorgen 
Dornbusch, aged j:^, of old age. He was born., in Germany, and 
buried in Perham, December, 1881. 

A young Finn, aged thirteen, whose gun discharged while get- 
ting through a fence, was killed, the ball lodging in his neck. He 
lived six days. 

In the early da}S hunting parties came from Moorhead and 
Fargo and east from Chicago and other cities, after deer and other 
game. The Chippewa Indians were allowed to hunt here, securing 
immense quantities of venison. 

Edward L. Schram, son of Peter and Jane Schram, early set- 
tlers, shot and killed the first moose. George Shafer, eldest son of 
Henry and Sophia Shafer, had a novel experience. He shot a deer 
as it was lying down, and ran to cut its throat, when it jumped up, 
and catching its horns in his coat, carried him a long distance, 
before he was extricated by his coat giving away. 

Delia A. Clifford. 



A Youthful Fiend. 

Perham was terribly agitated last Saturday June 2nd, 1882, by 
the discover}- that two men, a surveyor named Washington, and a 
German bov, his assistant, named Fehrembach, had been most 
foully murdered, about tw^enty miles north of that place, in Red 
Eye Prairie, near the Becker County line, presumably on the 
Monday previous. It appears that the two men started out of 
Perham to survey some pine land, and were afterwards joined 
by a lad named John Trivett, aged fifteen. On ]\Ionday 
Trivett borrowed a gun of a farmer, who shortly after heard 
some shots, but thought nothing of it. Trivett is well known 
at Perham, and generally considered a worthless vagabond, and 
seldom had anv monev. He was seen in Perham, however. 



670 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

on Monday, and exhibited a watch and revolver, and afterwards 
sold the watch for five dollars. On Friday the dead body of 
the German boy was discovered b\' a farmer, the head crushed 
in, several bullet holes in the body and a knife wound in the 
neck. The body of the surve\or was found Saturday, the back 
of the head being badly mutilated by a discharge from the shot 
gun. Trivett bought a new suit of clothes at Perham, and left 
for the West on Tuesday morning, intending to join the cowboys 
in Montana, as he has often avowed his intention of doing. He 
was traced to Bismarck after the discovery of the bodies, by Deputy 
Sheriff Butler, of Otter Tail County, and arrested and returned to 
Perham Thursday morning. He is said to have confessed the 
crime. He was heavily armed when taken, and had assumed the 
name of the noted Frank Ford. 

These are all the particulars so far as we have been able to 
learn, of the nunxler of the men and the capture of the villain, and 
this morning's train brings the news that Trivett did not wake 
up at daylight this morning, but those residents of Perham that 
did. found the dead body of the young fiend suspended by the 
neck from a telegraph pole. 

Geo. D. H.\milton. 

On the evening- of Trivctt's hearing-, ATr. Washington, brotlier of the 
murdered man, was allowed to interview the murderer, and his confes- 
sion is as follows: "I'll tell you all about it." He then stated that he 
came upon the surveyor and Fehrembach; Washington was sitting by 
a marsh looking at his plat, "and I just thought." said the boy, "of pictures 
I had seen in novels of men being killed in that i)osition, and I drew 
my shotgun to my shoulder, just like that," suiting the action to his 
words, "and shot him through the back of the head. He never got up. 
Fritz, who was a little way ofif, then came at me with his hatchet, and 
I saw I had got to kill him or he would me, and I quickly rolled the 
surveyor over, and pulled out his revolver, and quickly began firing at 
Fritz, who turned and ran and I after hin-i. When he had run about 
forty rods Fritz fell and I drew my knife on him, but I couldn't kill him 
with the knife, which broke in my hand, and I thought it a mercy to 
finish him cjuick, which I did with the hatchet." "Did Fritz say any- 
thing?" "Yes," said the boy, "He asked for water, and I went to the 
creek for water and had nothing but my hat to bring it in. When I got 
back he was dead. I then rifled Washington's body and started off, 
threw his revolver into the creek, and dropped the gun in the woods, 
one barrel of which will be found still loaded, and went to where my 
father was building a bridge and camped all night with him. He did not 
know what I had done, and I left him in the morning and went to Perham. 
You know the rest." 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 671 

This statement was listened to by the brother of the murdered sur- 
veyor, and Steve Butler informed us that it corresponds exactly with 
the first story the boy told him at Bismarck before he was primed by 
the prisoners in jail at that place and Fargo. — Fergus Falls Journal. 

June 2d, 1882. 

De.\r ]Mrs. Clifford: 

Yes, Trivett murdered the two surveyors on the southwest corner of 
Section 31 of Spruce Grove Township. 

The name of the surveyor was Edward Washington, and that of his 
assistant was Fred. Fehrembach. It was about the last of May. 1882, and 
the bodies were found three days after the murder. Trivett was caught 
at Bismarck, N. D.. by Constable Steve Butler, of Perham. He was 
about fifteen years old at the time. They gave him a hearing, but the 
third night afterwards a mob lynched him by hanging him to a tele- 
graph pole in the vilage of Perham. 

JORGFN DORNBUSH. 

Mr. Dornl^iish was liYin"" near there at the time of the murder. 



Chapter XLVIL 



HISTORY OF RUNEBERG TOWNSHIP. 

By Eber Hought. 

Tlie township of Runeberg- received its name in honor of, and 
in memory of the great Scandinavian author and poet John 
Runeberg. 

Runeberg- Township was first settled by white men in the year 
1882. A few Finlanders. Norwegians and Swedes, were the first 
settlers. Jacob Greus. John Maunu, John Johnson, and a few 
more filed claims in the fall of 1881 and moved onto their land 
in the spring of 1882. 

Paul Kuha erected the first house or shanty in Runeberg, on 
Section 34 in the spring of 1882, and in the spring and summer 
of that same year Paul Anderson. Siffert Karjala. Wilhelm Grang- 
ruth, ]\Iichael Marjama, John Lalle, Thomas Johnson, Ole Sal- 
monson, John Kynsijarvi, Jacob Sarkiaho and a few others settled 
in the township. 

The first settlers were obliged to get their groceries and pro- 
visions from New York Mills, that being the nearest railroad 
station for several years, but after the Great Northern Railroad 
was l)uilt and a station established at Menahga, the most of their 
trading was done at that place. The settlers, however, were in no 



6/2 



A Pione;er History of Becker County, 



danger of starving as the woods were full of game, such as deer, 
partridges, prairie chickens, ra1)l)its and a few bears and moose. 
There were also lots of wolves and a panther was seen and killed. 
In the fall of 1882 a panther attacked an Indian, and if he had 
been a white man death would have been the result, but it seems 
the panther did not like the smell of the Indian, so he stopped 
within two feet of him. The Indian drew his rifle on the panther, 
who seized the barrel in his mouth, and when the Indian had 




EBER BOUGHT. 
Historian of Runeberg. 



forced it into his mouth far enough and turned it in the right 
direction, he fired, killing the panther on the spot. The dead 
body was seen by many of the white settlers. 

John Maunu had settled on Section 22, and on the 20th day of 
November, 1882, he saw two deer pass by his house, and after 
getting his gun he started in pursuit of the deer. He followed 
them straight north, but he got lost in the woods and did not 
know where he was. He wandered around until eleven o'clock 
at night, when he came to an Indian tepee, up in what is now 
the town of Green Valley. As he came to the tepee an Indian 
came out with his gun in his hands. Mr. Maunu could speak 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 673 

neither English nor Indian, but laid down his gun and shook 
himself, signifying that he was cold. The Indian l)eckoned to 
him to come in. When once inside Mr. Maunu took off his coat 
and boots and moved up to the fire, as he was cold and wet 
through. He then motioned to the Indian that he was hungry by 
putting his fingers in his mouth and chewing on them. The In- 
dian understood this and spoke to his squaw, who soon brought 
a piece of venison which she roasted on the fire, and she also pre- 
pared a cup of tea for him. After Mr. Maunu had satisfied his hun- 
ger he was surprised to see six or eight Indians come in. They 
had a conversation with the friendly Indian, and began talking 
louder and louder, and seemed to be very angry, and crowded 
up nearer and nearer to Mr. Maunu. It made the hair stand 
straight up on his head, as he was sure the Indians intended to 
kill him. At last the friendly Indian rushed up between the 
Indians and Mr. Maunu and kept the savage fellows back, and in 
a little while they all departed, but the friendly Indian sat up all 
night and watched over him with his rifle across his lap. The 
next morning the Indian beckoned to Mr. Maunu to follow him, 
and to his delight, about ten o'clock they arrived at John Lalle's 
shanty on Section 10 in the town of Runeberg. There they rested 
for a short time and had a little lunch, but the Indian understood 
it was not the home of Mr. Maunu and would not leave him, but 
accompanied him to his own home where they were met by Mrs. 
Maunu and the children and a few of the neighbors, who had 
been out looking for Mr. Maunu. The Indian was backward 
about going into the house, but the wife had a feast prepared 
for her husband and the Indian was beckoned to help himself 
and partake of everything. All the victuals seemed to taste good 
to the Indian, as he ate more than Mrs. Maunu and the neighbors 
had ever seen a man eat before or since at one time, and when 
through he looked up towards heaven, saying something in a 
few words not understood by the Finlanders, but who thought 
he gave thanks to the Great Spirit. He then made a sign that 
he was satisfied and well paid for all his trouble. Before he started 
for home Mr. and Mrs. Maunu loaded him down with food to 
take home with him. If it had not been for this friendly Indian 
Mr. Maunu would have died, either from cold, hunger or exhaus- 
tion. After that day the white settlers had no trouble with the 
Indians. They came frequently to the white men's houses and 




wr 


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m-^ :! 


s 




< 


r 


P5 


J A^imm 





if- 




A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 675 

visited for hours, luit never begged or disturbed anything". They 
were quite helpful, and instructed the settlers in many new things. 
Some of the Indians could speak a little English and so could 
some of the settlers, and they became quite friendly. 

The township of Runeberg was organized, and the first town- 
ship election was held at the house of August Peterson, on Section 
28. on the 24th day of May, 1887. The following township 
officers were elected : Chairman of supervisors, Olof Leamatta ; 
supervisors, John Lalle and Thomas Ollila ; treasurer, A. J. Sar- 
kiaho ; clerk, August S. Peterson ; assessor, Michael Marjama ; 
justices of the peace, Paul Kuha and John M. Olson; constables, 
Frederick Sarvi and August Errickson ; road overseer, Wilhelm 
Grangruth. 

The first white children born in Runeberg were twins: John 
and August Kuha, children of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kuha, born on 
the third day of February, 1882. They are now good, strong, 
health}- boys, and still live in the township with their parents. 

The first death among the white settlers, so far as known, 
occurred in 1885, and was that of Johan Peter, infant son of Mr. 
and Mrs. Chris. Jacobson. The second death was that of Anna 
Stina, wife of Siffert Karjala on Dec. 21st, 1885. 

The first marriage occurred in the year 1889, when Wilhelm 
Grangruth and Annie Kynsijarvi were united. They are still 
living on Section 24, and are industrious and well-to-do farmers 
blessed with a large family and have won the respect of their 
neighbors, and given proof of what industry, economy and good 
management will do towards becoming independent. 

On the 20th day of Februar}-, 1898, the post-office in Runeberg 
was consumed b}- fire. The post-office was located on the north- 
west corner of Section 26. Olof Kortuna the postmaster, a man 
fifty-six years old and a native of Finland, was burned to death 
at the same time, together with his dog. Rumors were afloat 
that somebody murdered the postmaster and his dog, and then set 
fire to the building to cover up the crime, but nothing could be 
proven and the incident is now among the almost forgotten things 
of the past. 

The town of Runeberg at the present time, (1906), has a pop- 
ulation of 410 and casts a popular vote of 100. Has one church, 
one cemeterv, four school districts and four schoolhouses ; and 



6/6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

two sawmills were running" all the past winter. It has four road 
districts and fifty-five miles of roads more or less graded. 

The population are of nearly all nationalities, but the majority 
are Finlanders. 

The present town officers are as follows : Supervisors, Peter 
Army, John Kastren and Andrew Karjala ; town clerk, A. P. Dan- 
ielson ; treasurer, Carl J. Johnson ; assessor, Olof Junes ; con- 
stables, Gaston Jacob and T. E. Peterson; justices of the peace, 
A. P. Danielson and Isaac Keksi ; overseer of roads, Aug. Par- 
viainen, Erick Koivuniemi, T. E. Peterson and Oscar Anderson. 

The township is out of debt and is improving the roads every 
year; more land is being brought under cultivation, and every 
effort is being made to induce new settlers to come in and help 
improve the country and make Runeberg their home. 

The soil in Runeberg is deep clay. Wheat, oats, barley, flax, 
potatoes, clover and timothy are raised to good advantage, con- 
sequently stock-raising" is a profitable industry. 

The village of Menahga is only four miles east of Runeberg 
where there is a good market for all kinds of farm produce, in- 
cluding cord-wood and ties. A majority of the farmers are now 
the owners of cream separators, and are either selling their cream 
in Menahga or shipping it to the larger cities. 

Land in Runeberg" is now selling" for fron"i eight to thirty dol- 
lars per acre, according to improvements. 

Eber Hought, the historian of Runeberg, was born in Norway 
in the year 1858, came to the United States in 1878, lived in Otter 
Tail County four years, then removed to Richwood in Becker 
County where he was married to Caroline Errickson in 1882. 
In January, 1883, they went to New York Mills to live, and in 
1887 moved to Runeberg, where they have resided ever since. 
Mr. Hought came to Rune1)erg the same year the township was 
organized and has always taken a helping hand in the aft'airs of 
the town, both political and religious, has held several offices of 
trust, and is the present postmaster of Runeberg. Mr. Hought 
assisted in organizing the first school district in Runeberg, in 
the year 1889. 

Andrew White was the first school director, Eber Hought, 
the first clerk, Paul Kuha, the first treasurer. 

The first school teacher in Runeberg was Frank Reeves, who 
taught a term of five months. 

Eber Hought. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



677 



Chapter XLVIIL 



THE HISTORY OF GREEN VALLEY. 

By F. M. Shepard. 
The author of the history of Green Valley reached Detroit 
one cold day in November, 1883, stayed over night and the next 
morning, bright and early, in company with Geo. Harrington, 
started for Osage with a pack sack weighing fifty pounds, a forty- 
five-ninety Winchester rifle, five hundred cartridges, a compass, 
a knife and everything that makes a complete hunter's outfit, 




F. M. SHEPARD. 



my intention being to kill a car-load of deer, ship them to St. 
Paul and return to my native home in Michigan. We arrived 
in Osage about 9:30 p. m., somewhat the worse for wear, as I 
had sprained my ankle trying to escape some of the many stumps 
along the crooked trail from Height of Land to Shell Lake. After 
eating supper I lay down on my weary cot and closed my eyes, 
only to see deer jumping over and around me, some even had 



6/8 A PioxKKR History of PjEckkk County. 

wini^s and were sailing through the air. .And 1 with m_\' fort}-- 
five-ninety blazing away until my fiYe hundred cartridges were 
nearly e.xhausted. At last I awoke. iuni])ing out of bed. only to 
find I could stand on but one foot, my ankle being swollen so that 
it was impossible for me to get on my shoe. HoAvever, after eat- 
ing breakfast I made a trip out into the country by the aid of an 
ox team, to Fred Harrington's, liaYing met him, together with his 
brother George, M. S. Leavitt, Hugh Alexander and Jacob Uaum- 
gardner in the Dakota harYest fields. 

After a few days of careful nursing and hot applications of 
wormwood and Yinegar I was able to take my rifle and start out 
on luy long anticipated hunt. After hunting six daYS and seeing 
se\eral dozen deer, shooting at them all (and I think until this 
day I wounded one). While I didn't find an}- blood, it ran like 
a deer that had been hit somewhere. Meeting with this success 
as a hunter and not ha\'ing money enough to return liome, I 
naturally turned my mind in another direction. About this time 
the first threshing machine was hauled into Osage and I was em- 
]doYed as one of the crew. We mo\-ed onto a thirtY acre field 
of wheat, this being one of the largest fields west of Osage. We 
threshed from the thirty acres nine hundred bushels of Xo. i 
wheat. This turned m_\' mind in still another direction and I 
commenced to iuYCStigate the soil, as before this I had a Yery poor 
opinion of the country as far as the productiYC ([ualities of the 
soil was concerned. I dug up some of the soil and thawetl it out, 
yet I was not satisfied, but thought that there must be something 
that I could not see in it, as it looked Yery sandy to me. r>ut by 
this time, being determined to haYc a home and share m}' lot with 
the rest of the poor yet warm-hearted people whom 1 found here, 
by the aid of AI. S. LeaYitt, who told me of the northwest (juarter 
of Section 12, 'I'ownshi]) 139, Range 36 (now in the town of Green 
A^'alley) being Yacant. I cruised it o\er and being satisfied it was 
all right I turned my footsteps toward Detroit (the county seat), 
arri\ing there in time for sup])er, making tlie trip from Osage to 
Detroit on foot OYer the rough and crooked trail in fourteen 
hours, and filed on the aboYe named (|uarter. d'his brings me 
to my settling in Green A'allcy. 

I found settled there at that time: J. J. Brewer, on northwest 
quarter of Section 4 ; Chas. Alexander, on northeast quarter of 
Section 4 ; Hugh Alexander, on southeast quarter of Section 4 ; 



A Pionee;r History of Becke;r County. 679 

Joe Palmer, on southwest quarter of Section 4 ; Lee Cole, on north- 
west quarter of Section 2 ; Lou Cole, on southwest quarter of 
Section 2; D. Adams on northeast quarter of Section 2; M. S. 
Leavitt, on northeast quarter of Section 14; R. A. Hopkins, on 
southeast quarter of Section 14 ; Sam. Cole, on northeast quarter 
of Section 10; C. R. Burch, on southeast quarter of Section 10. 

There were also a few families of Finlanders in the southern 
part of the town. 

Air. J. J. Brewer, who was born in Germany in 1849, "^^'^s the 
first settler in Green Valley, locating- there June 15, 1882. 

The first Green \''alley people to get married were Joseph J. 
Brewer and Angeline Kinney, who were married on the 9th of 
November, 1882, to whom three children were born. 

A little later Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cole arrived. Miss Blanche 
Leavitt was the first girl born in Green Valley. She graduated 
in the class of 1902 from the Park Rapids High School and after- 
wards graduated from the St. Cloud State Normal. She is now teach- 
ing her third year in the Park Rapids High School. Edward Cole 
was the first boy born in the township and he now resides in the 
state of W^ashington. The first death on record was that of Mary 
Hellamer, daughter of Henry and Katarena Mattila, who died on 
the 17th day of September, 1886. Mr. Truman Thompson, father 
of Mrs. Sam Cole, was the first adult person to die in Green X'alley. 
He was born in Wisconsin. He was a blacksmith and shoemaker 
by trade, had homesteaded near Red Wing and when the Indians 
broke out he and his family returned to Wisconsin. In 1885 he 
settled in Green Valley and died there ]\Iay 31. 188S, at the age 
of 61. 

The first schoolhouse was built of logs, on the southeast cor- 
ner of Section 3, without any expense to the district, in fact it was 
built before the district was organized. The material and labor 
all being donated by the settlers. Miss Flora McKinley of Osage, 
daughter of S. S. McKinley was the first teacher. She taught 
two terms in succession. She was followed by Miss Eugenia Price 
of ( )sage, who also taught two terms. I might say right here, she 
is still teaching the author of this article and three children, as we 
were married on the 15th of September, 1897. 

As I am writing my mind runs back to many very pleasant as 
well as some unpleasant and peculiar experiences while holding 
down mv claim. One was shortly after moving into my cabin. 



68o A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

It was on a dark, foggy morning that I took mv gun and started 
for a lake about three-quarters of a mile distant, thinking I might 
get a wild goose for dinner, as I had heard some there the day 
before. After traveling about what I supposed to be the required 
distance, I saw an opening in the brush which I took to be the lake, 
but when coming out to the opening I was somewhat surprised 
to find a clearing of a few acres and a log cabin. Thinking I had 
found a new settler whom I had not heard of, I walked boldly up 
to the door, set my gun down and was about to rap, when I spied 
a familiar looking lock and further observations brought me to my 
senses, and I found myself standing at my own cabin door. I 
never started out after that without the sun or a compass to guide 
me. I might also relate my experience with a lynx. One evening 
when coming home from Osage with a sack of flour and a week's 
provisions on my back, when within half a mile of my cabin, I 
heard an unmerciful yell which made the woods ring. It also 
made my hat raise so I could scarcely keep it on my head. I 
quickened my footsteps as much as possible under the circum- 
stances, which was not very slow, until I reached mv own door, 
which was never more welcome. I laid down my burden and Mr. 
Howard, an old gentleman that stayed with mc, asked what was 
the matter. When I related to him the circumstance, we listened 
and we both thought we heard something outside the door. By 
this time my heart had got down out of my throat and had com- 
menced its normal beating. I took down my Winchester and 
stepped outside, when not ten feet from me I could see two balls 
of fire and hear a hissing noise. I drew up my gun and fired. I 
then went back into the house took a light and went out to find 
I had made a very lucky shot, as there lay the monster dead. It 
was one of largest lynx I have ever seen. These animals v/ere 
very numerous at that time. There were also some wolves, and 
bear and deer were very plentiful. 

This township when fully developed will be one of the leading 
townships of the county, as it is particularly adapted to stock-rais- 
ing. The firm of Vanderpoel and Shepard have a farm of five 
hundred and twenty acres on Section ii that they are stocking 
with cattle and sheep. IMany other fine farms are to be found 
there. 

The author of this article was born in Bainbridge, near Benton 
Harbor, Mich., July i6, i860. He came to Minnesota in 1883, 
and resided in Green Valley until 1894, when he moved to Park 



A Pione;er History of Bkcker County. 68i 

Rapids and went into the real estate, loan and insurance business 
with F. A. Vanderpoel, under the firm name of Vanderpoel & 
Shepard. He was elected judge of probate of Hubbard County 
in 1900, which office he has held ever since and was reelected in 
November, 1906. 

The township was organized on the 3rd of May, 1886, at a town- 
ship election held at the house of Samuel Cole. The name of the 
town at first was Hope, but afterwards changed to Green Valley. 
The first set of township officers were : Chairman of board of 
supervisors, Frank M. Shepard ; supervisors, Henry Mattila, John 
Johnson ; township clerk, Joseph J. Brewer ; treasurer, C. R. Burch ; 
assessor, Peter Vosen ; justices of the peace, Joseph J. Brewer and 
John Mansikka ; constables, Samuel Cole and August Jacobson. 

When the petition was first filed with the county auditor it in- 
cluded all of what is now Green Valley and Runeberg townships. 
Runeberg was then fairly well settled, but there was not an acre 
of taxable land in the township, while what is now Wolf Lake 
Township contained several large tracts of taxable land, chiefly 
pine. Mr. Wilcox, the county auditor, advised them to change 
what is now Runeberg for what is now Wolf Lake Township, which 
had many acres of land which could be taxed and did not have a 
person living within its borders. The petition was taken back and 
the change made accordingly. The township as first organized 
included what is now Green Valley and Wolf Lake. 

Frank M. Siii-.i'A!;!). 



3- \mt'<ms. ^ ."^^^r^ir^ 





A Pioneer History of Beckivr County. 683 



Chaptet XLIX. 

HISTORY OF WOLF LAKE TOWNSHIP. 

By Andrew Jarvimaki. 
The first settler in this town was John \Mrkkanen. He ar- 
rived in this town on the 15th of \la.y, 1888, from Champion, Michi- 
gan. He came with his wife Minnie, and his two sons, Carl and 
David, came with him. He came to Xew York Mills by railroad 
and then he took an ox team and started north, and it took him 
six weeks to reach the place where he now resides. He had to 
cut a road through the woods a large part of the way. The distance 
was thirty-five miles, and the road had been opened up only a 
small part of the distance. He had to fight pretty hard in those 
first years to make his living. He is always thankful to the gov- 
ernment. He says the government presented him with a good 
piece of land that he filed a homestead, and that is the place he 
says he does not want to sell no matter how much money he is 
going to get for it. His farm is on Section t,^- He was born in 
Finland in 1850. He says there is not much to say about his 
early life, that he always had to work and sufl:'cr pretty hard to 
make his living, because he was very poor in those earliest days, 
but that everybody should be happy to own the property he now 
has. and T guess there is not much more to say about him in this 
historv. 

r)Ut there comes another fellow ; his name is Abel Kinunen. 
He came from Houghton, Michigan, in the year 1888, a little after 
Wirkkanen came, and he came with his wife, Kerttu, and he too had 
his two sons with him. The name of one was Gabriel and the name 
of the other boy was Charley. He too first came over to Xew 
York Mills, and there took an ox team and made his way up here, 
where he filed a homestead on Section 30, of one hundred and 
sixt}" acres, on the same place where he still lives. He too is a 
native of Finland, born and raised over in the western part of that 
country. He says he had to work hard in those days to get a liv- 
ing for himself and his family, but he too is a prettv prosperous 
farmer in our days. 

In 1889 came a fellow by the name of ^latt. Henrickson. I can- 
not tell just sure what way or how he came, but I think he came from 



684 -^ PioxEER History of Becker County. 

somewhere in r^Iichigan, and the next newcomer was Jeremias 
Soronen, and from what I have heard he was Hving in Duluth 
before he came over here. 

The fellow who I tell you about now is by name Jacob Bakki. 
He was born in Finland, too. He was a youn,q' man, not over 
twenty years old when he left the country where he was born and 
went over to Sweden, where he worked in a coal mine, but as he 
wanted to see more of the world he came over to this side of the 
Atlantic and landed at Brainerd, because he had some friends 
there, but he did not like to stay there, so he made up his mind to 
come over to this town. Here he took up a homestead, but the 
poor living' and hardships and hard work upset his mind, and 
he became insane, and in 1891 or sometime like that had to be 
sent to the insane asylum at Fergus Falls. He was there a little 
over two years, or a little under, I forg'ct which, when he got over 
his trouble, and ran away and came back to see his homestead, 
and he is the same fellow who g"ot murdered about the first of 
November, 1898, on Section 19 in the town of Carsonville, and 
that is the end of his life. 

The next person who came was Henry Henning, who arrived 
with his family some time in 1891. 

The first boy was born on the ist day of August, 1894, to Mr. and 
Mrs. John Wirkkanen. His first name is Ivar. 

The first girl was born on the 20th day of July, 1893, to Mr. 
and Mrs. Henning, and her name was Ida Aliina Henning. The 
name of the first person who died in our township was a son of 
Herman Larson. His name was Charlie and he died on the 2nd 
of September, 1895. The first wedding was that of Mr. and Mrs. 
Matt. Henrickson, who were married on the i8th of January, 
1896. I do not know her maiden name. The first school teacher 
was Miss Mabell Newpolt, of Park Rapids. 

Mrs. Minnie Wirkkanen was the first white woman in the town- 
ship. 

The first township election was held on the 4th day of April, 
1896. The first township officers were: Chairman of board of 
supervisors, William Isola ; supervisors, John Kangas and Henry 
Henning; clerk, Jacob Alio; assessor, Erick Sullivan; constable, 
Leander Suomela ; overseer of roads, Carl Wirkkanen ; justices of 
the peace, Henry Henrickson and Carl Komulainen. The first 
election was held at the schoolhouse on Section 20. Gabriel 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 685 

Kiininen was the lucky fellow who killed the first wolf in the 
township and Henry Larson helped him, and the men who killed 
the first bear were Charlie Salmela and John Koskela, in the winter 
of 1896. These animals were killed on Sections 2 and 3 in Wolf 
Lake Township. Twelve or thirteen wolves have been killed 
since in our town ; it is hard to remember the exact number. 
There are a few hunters who killed a good many deer in those 
early days. One of them was Gabriel Kinunen. 

The first wedding of our town people was that of Matt. Henrick- 
son and his wife, but they were married in Menahga, over in 
Wadena County. The first marriage that actually took place in 
Wolf Lake Township was that of David Wirkkanen and Miss 
Ida Baso, who were married at the house of John Wirkkanen on 
December 3rd, 1896. 

The post-office of Lonnrot was first opened in the spring of 
1898, and Wm. Isola was the first postmaster. The first church 
was built by the Apostolic Lutherans in the summer of 1898, and 
another church was built by the Evangelical Lutherans two years 
afterwards. All the people in our township are Finns. 

I was born at Washingland, Finland, on the 30th day of Octo- 
ber, 1869, and came to America in 1888. I came to Wolf Lake 
township on the 6th of March, 1896, and took a homestead on Sec- 
tion 18, where I still reside. 

Now I think I have told you all there is worth telling of our 
township history. Many good wishes to all who may read this 
history in the future. 

Andrew Jarvimaki. 



686 A 1M(>\i:i:k IIistorn- op Bkcker County. 



Chapter L. 



HISTORY OF GOOD LAKE TOWNSHIP. 

By William Lass. 

The first settler in Toad Lake Township was Herman (Trififnow, 
who first came into the township on the 30th day of October, 
1887, and took a homestead on the northwest quarter of Section 
28. He l)uilt a house on this land that fall, which was the first 
built in the township. Five more settlers came into the town- 
ship that same fall and took homesteads : John Neske on Section 
26, Edward Reitz on Section 26, Chris. Reitz on Section 22, An- 
toine Pretz and William Worst on Section 28. 

In the sprino- of 1888 John Detrich Glander, Sr., and Detrich 
dander, Jr., took homesteads on Section 18, and Henry Glander 
settled on Section 8 and is now^ living on Section 20. About the 
same time, August Anderson took a homestead on Section 28. 
Anderson is a son-in-law of J. D. Glander, Sr., and Mrs. Anderson 
and her mother, Mrs. Glander, were the first two wdiite women in 
Toad Lake Township. Li the fall of 1888 Wm. Lass took a home- 
stead on Section 20 and Charles Hartkop took a homestead near by, 
and Henry Drewes took a homestead on the northeast quarter 
of Section 32. About all the government land in the township 
was taken up during the next few years. The early settlers of 
Toad Lake Township were nearly all foreigners, a few of them 
being Swedes, Norwegians and Finlanders, but a large major- 
ity of them were Germans. There have never been many inci- 
dents of an exciting character, such as murders, desperate en- 
counters with wild animals or terrible accidents to record, and as 
the township has only been settled a few years, and the settlers 
being of a quiet and peaceable disposition, the history of the 
townshi]! will conseciuently be brief. 

Jacob Bakki, who was murdered on Section 19 in the township 
of Carsonville in the fall of 1898, once owned some land on Section 
15 of Toad Lake Township, and lived there for awhile. 

Toad Lake Township takes its name from Toad Lake, a fine body 
of water in the northwestern part of the township, but how the 
lake came by the name I am unable to say. Toad Mountain, a 
magnificent elevation on Section 8 on the west side of Toad Lake, 



A PioNKiiR History of Rkckur County. 687 

is undoubtedly the highest hill in Becker County. There is no 
other place in the county where so extensive a view of the sur- 
rounding country can be obtained as from the summit of Toad 
Mountain. 

Toad Lake Township was organized in the month of January, 
1892. The first special election was held at the house of Fred 
Alyers on the 5th day of January. 1892. A list of township 
officers was made out to be voted for at the annual election, 
March 8th, when the following officers were elected, being the first 
to hold office in the township : Chairman of board of supervisors, 
Henry Drewes ; supervisors, Henry Glander and Frank Oldrig ; 
township clerk, Hiram Harding ; treasurer, Herman Griffnow ; Hi- 
ram Harding justice of the peace and Detrich Glander constable. 

The first people married in Toad Lake Township were Wm. 
Lass and Frida Schroder, wdio were married on the 9th day of 
December, 1891. The first birth was that of Anna Lass, daughter 
of Wm. and Frida Lass, born on the 13th day of October, 1892. 
The first boy born was John Anderson, son of August Anderson. 
The first death was that of Frank Oldrig. The first school taught 
in the township was by Millie Sandborn of Detroit. 

August Czernetski located on the southwest quarter of Section 
26 in October, 1894. Among the early settlers were Carl Al- 
bricht on the northwest quarter of Section 32, Michael Tess- 
man on the southwest quarter of Section 32 and Ole Salmonson 
on Section 13. 



688 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter LI. 



HISTORY OF TWO INLETS. 

By Charles E. Spencer. 

On Section 26, in this town, is a hill about two hundred and 
fifty feet high and a man standing thereon can get a good bird's- 
eye view of the whole township. 

As I have stood there viewing the panorama spread out before 
me, my mind has gone back for ages to the first part of the quar- 





MRS. ELIZABETH C. KXAPP. 



CHAS. E. SPENCER. 



ternary period, when nature was busy preparing this world for 
the dwelling place of man, and I saw where an ice boulder had 
been detached from that huge floe that swept our continent from 
north to south and as it was breaking up, formed a great crevasse, 
beginning up on the reservation and extending in a southeasterly 
direction from four to six miles in width, which, later on. formed 
the Shell River valley and prairies of that name. As this detached 
iceberg resting on our township gradually melted it left the sur- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 689 

face of the land on which it rested broken and rolling", a sort of 
confused mass of stones, clay and sand, of which we have speci- 
mens of all varieties. Then, slowly, nature began the work of 
clothing in green, which went on until some of the finest forests 
of pine in Minnesota stood where desolation reigned supreme. 

Father Hennepin crossed this township while returning from 
his exploration of the head waters of the Mississippi ; part of his 
trail is still in existence and is known as the Itasca Trail. To him 
belongs the honor of being the first white man to enter our town- 
ship. 

On April fifteenth, 1881, Elizabeth C. Knapp, a widow, with a 
family, decided that this would make a good home for her and her 
little ones, and she homesteaded the southeast quarter of Section 
30. Shortly after making settlement on her claim, Mrs. Knapp 
had the misfortune to break a leg, which, coupled with pioneer 
hardships, made her bed not one of roses, but perseverance and grit 
enabled her to surmount all obstacles, and she is now living in 
Pa:rk Rapids enjoying life, though not in the best of health. 

Mrs. Knapp's pioneer life and hardships were greatly mitigat- 
ed by her son, a lad of thirteen, who had kept the larder well 
stocked with venison and bear meat, which was found in abun- 
dance, w^hile ducks and pheasants and rabbits were too numerous 
to mention, and could be found almost at the door. 

Pioneer life is always a repetition of itself, joys and hardships 
S.O mingled as to make life a continuous succession of excitements 
which dispel the gloom of solitude, and buoy up the mind with 
an exhilaration known only to those who have lived on the fron- 
tier and entered into the strenuous struggle for existence there. 

Widow Knapp, our pioneer settler, drank her cup and mur- 
mured not, happy now in her old age to think she won the fight, 
and is honored by all who know her. 

]\Irs. Knapp was followed in a few months by John Sheel, 
Kelly Lewis and Sam Orran. Mr. Lewis is the only one of the 
pioneers still here. 

For a number of years the southwest corner of the town was 
the only part settled. The next settlement formed was in the 
southeast, headed by M. W. Vanderwater and P. S. Dorsey, both 
of whom have had much to do with public aft'airs in Becker 
County. This settlement was later added to by the writer and 
others, until today there is but little vacant land left in this corner. 



690 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Settlement in the north side of the town was headed by the Bitt- 
man Brotliers, who were soon followed by Max Eischens and 
others. To-day there is a flourishing' settlement of Germans 
there, wdio are fast improving the country and building for them- 
selves good homes. There is still quite a strip of land in the cen- 
ter of the town unsettled, wdiich is well adapted to diversified 
farming. There once stood in the township close to fifty million 
feet of pine which has mostly been cut and driven to the big saw- 
mills. The soil is good and a settler here to-day can find vacant 
land containing" natural meadow and timl)er for building purposes, 
the question of fuel being too remote to consider. 

There are two mills in active operation here. One owned by 
Mr. Eischens, in the north side, who cuts lumber, lath and shin- 
gles, also does a general flouring business, having good water- 
power. The other is a general sawmill, owned and operated by 
the writer on the south side of the town. We have several fine 
lakes. The largest is Two Inlets, from which the town derives 
its name. One called Hungry Man's Lake in the northeast cor- 
ner, took its name through the misfortune of an old man, one of the 
early settlers — a Mr. Christian, who got lost in the woods and 
wandered for two days and nights and was found by an Indian on 
its shores. 

The first white child born was Mary E. Sheel, born Sept. loth, 
1882. I do not know where she is now. 

The first male child born was Thomas Christian, born Dec. 
24th, 1894, now living in Canada. 

Al. Farr and Bell Knapp were the first couple married. Mr. 
Farr was killed by a threshing machme in 1899. 

The first schoolhouse was built of logs about 1890, and the 
first term of school was taught by Sam Dazell. A\'e now have 
three fully equipped, modern schoolhouses in the town, which are 
all in one school district. No. 67. 

Our organization as a township was completed in 1898. The 
first town ofiicers were : Supervisors : Henry Bittman, chairman ; 
W. T. Devereaux. IJarney IHttman : and town clerk, A. K. Lewis. 

Politics at that time were somewhat exciting here ; it was al- 
most a solid demo-populist town, the writer casting the only re- 
publican vote in the township for the first five years of his resi- 
dence therein. 



A Pioneer History oi" Becker County. 691 

A\^e are now al)out ec|ually divided between republicans and 
democrats with an occasional populist. 

This township has been the home of three old soldiers : John 
O'Neil, a member of the present town board ; B. H. Cool, who still 
lives here, and Louis Fuss, who occupies "a little green tent, 
whose curtain never outward swings," dying soon after taking 
his claim — the first death in the town. 

This ends the story of our existence as a commonwealth. 
Many circumstances coulcl have been better — more could have 
been worse, but taking it altogether, I am glad I came here, and 
there is still roum for man}- more, who will receive a hearty wel- 
come. 



692 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter LII. 



THE HISTORY OF SAVANNAH. 

By Penn. ay. Martin. 

As a political organization, Town 142, Range 36, began to breathe 
conjointly with Town 141 of the same range, on the 20th day of 
September, 1898. The whole was called Two Inlets, on account 
of the fine lake within its boundaries having two inlets. 

In the spring of 1901, A. T. Brennig, George Schmit, Fred Im- 
hofif, C. E. Smith, P. W. Martin. Henry Kalthoff, Mike Dirkes, 




PENN. W. MARTIN. 



Peter Dirkes, Andrew Gangl. Herman Schubert, Joseph Kruse, 
George Lang, M. J. Smith, W. F. Kelsey, George Kelsey, A. C. 
Burlingame, Peter Moos, Frank Pfeifer, Edward Pfetse, August 
Dickmann, Chas. Bollenbaugh, E. N. Youmans and M. D. Mc- 
Nulty prepared a petition, which, after some alterations and cor- 
rections, was presented to the board of county commissioners re- 
questing that the Siamese arrangement of Towns 141 and 142 be 
discontinued, and that Town 142, Range 36 be detached and set 
up in business for itself 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 693 

On September 26th, 190 1, the commissioners took final action 
upon the petition making of the congressional Town 142, Range 
36, the organized town of Savannah and ordered notices posted 
calling for the first election of "said town to be held upon the 12th 
day of the succeeding October at the residence of Peter Dirkes." 

The first officers were : Chairman of supervisors, Peter Dir- 
kes ; supervisors, C. E. Smith and Willard Worden ; clerk, Henry 
Kalthofif; treasurer, Mike Dirkes; justices of the peace, C. E. 
Smith and P. W. Alartin ; constables Henry Schubert and Lon. 
Burlingame. 

On March 22nd, 1902, School District No. 91 was organized, 
comprising the whole town, and a few months later school be- 
gan in a frame schoolhouse with Town Clerk Henry Kalthoff as 
teacher. Mr. Kalthoff came to this town with the Stearns County 
contingent. He had taught in that county some time and is now 
in Canada where he and two sons own land. Two more school- 
houses have been built and a fourth will be required in a short 
time. 

Long before all this, however, residences were established here 
by John Dines and one Mclntyre. They came from Canada and 
each located on a fine pine claim, proving up in six months or so 
and very soon thereafter returning to their native land. At least 
so tradition runs. Not one of the present settlers ever saw them, 
and as a settled community they made no impression upon the 
town. 

Ten years later came Dickmann, the first bona fide settler in 
the town. John August Diekmann was born in Aldenburg. Germany, 
soon after the middle of the 19th century, and has not yet for- 
gotten the German tongue. He lived for a time in Stearns County, 
Minnesota, and in the fall of 1895 he came to Park Rapids and 
from there to Mr. Bittman's in Two Inlets. He took a great 
fancy to this section of country because of the fine hunting and 
fishing, and finally concluded to buy some tracts of meadow land 
and make a home here. During the summer of '96 two families 
settled in the woods at the south angle of Boot Lake and began 
the erection of homes. Herman Lashwoski and Louis Strouve 
worked hard and skillfully, but gave up the struggle and with 
their families and some chattels moved away in the fall or winter 
succeeding. Mr. Diekmann bought the improvements of these 
gentlemen on Section 32, and somewhat later filed on one of the 
claims and established a very pleasant home there. Bachelor 








2 « ) 






A Pioneer History of Becker County. 695 

that he is, he has no notion of abandoning his "Cottage b}' Boot 
Lake." 

Between the advent of "August," as Mr. Diekmann is commonly 
cahed, and the arrival of Lashwoski, came the writer with a crew 
of men, and a claim shanty was erected on a homestead adjoining 
Mr. Diekmann's tracts, which also consisted mostly of meadow 
land, made in an early day by the backwater from the dams of 
the beavers. There are still other meadows on Beaver Creek 
and elsewhere in the town, and it was these beautifully grassy 
reaches that furnished the suggestion for a name for the town 
which should have been spelled "Savanna" instead of like the city 
in Georgia. 

It must not be inferred from the foregoing that this is a low 
country, mostly meadow and swamp. There are numerous swamps 
of spruce and tamarack, Imt there are also some long ridges and 
high hills and po])lar flats. 

Almost every species of wood or shrub known to the Minne- 
sota flora is found here, including the three cranberries, blueberry, 
trailing myrtle and arbutus, on up through the various deciduous 
trees to the stately white pine and beautiful yellow Norway. 

Leaving out of account the millions of "Jack" or black pine 
there were perhaps originally in the town, five or ten millions 
of white pine and twenty or thirty millions of Norway pine. Nearly 
four luillion feet were cut last winter. The timber being a fair 
indication of the soil, you will see that we have a great variety. 

The timber attracted some young men to the neighborhood 
and at irregular intervals during the nineties, claims were located 
and built upon by John ( )'Neil, Frank Pfeifer, A. T. Brennig, 
Messrs. Mansfield, Youmans, Lievi, Johnson and others. At the 
dawn of the twentieth century the town received an infusion of 
new blood. The Iowa colony in 1894 with C. E. Smith as patriarch, 
took possession of a large amount of land in the Boot Lake region. 
The Gaylords settled among them in 1901. The center of the 
town was settled by a number of German Americans from Stearns 
County, and the Wisconsin group settled to the east with Mr. 
Worden from South Dakota. 

A few parcels of land had been bought outright, but without 
exception the settlers are living upon government homesteads. 

Three forces operated to lead trails to this direction at a very 
early period — the late seventies — the cranberries, the fish and 
game and the timber. The very earliest paths seemed to have been 



696 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

located by Indians. During the early eighties hunters from Osage 
and Linnell, worked roads in here from the south and west. The 
Moores, Witters and Stevens called it the Boot Lake country. 
Still others Long Lake. Roads were pushed further in during 
the early nineties by settlers from the south looking for ha}' privi- 
leges. It was while cruising for hay with C. W. Martin of Arago, 
Hubbard County, in 1895, that the writer's present homestead was 
discovered. Ten years have witnessed a change from a desolate 
wilderness to a fairly populous township, having two post-offices. 
Mrs. C. E. Smith was our first postmistress and she opened the 
Savannah post-office to the public at her home on the west shore 
of Boot Lake, September, 1902. In 1904 a post-office was estab- 
lished in the north central part of the town, John Schmit being 
postmaster. He also has a stock of groceries and settlers' sup- 
plies. 



Wild Animals. 

Stories of adventure do not come readily to my pen. A buffalo 
head was found in the creek by Mr. Schubert this spring. Some 
years ago Mr. Deikmann shot a swan. IMoose and the like are 
not so plentiful now as formerly, but we believe we are the on- 
ly folk who boast of beaver, and this involves a technicality ; 
there are some beaver on the Itasca State Park, and four sections 
of the Park are within the boundaries of our township. We have 
bears too. One Sunday morning a youth went out into the woods 
to avoid distraction until he could con his catechism lesson. For 
comfort he climbed a tree, and sat in the fork thereof. While 
thus engaged he was startled by a peculiar noise at the foot of 
the tree. It was nothing but a bear standing on his rear pins 
trying to make out what the boy was reading. Finally Bruin 
gave up, but the boy showed fight. At any rate the boy's hair 
bristled up. A picture is inserted to take the place of our hunting 
story. Also our best fishing story will have to be told by P. O. 
Stevens as he got the nets. 

Topographically we are if anything higher than Height of Land, 
being a part of the thirteenth or Itasca Moraine, and nearly 1,600 
feet above sea level. 

C. E. Smith was born in Washington County, New York, May 
1 8th, 1843. When twelve years of age he with his parents moved 




< ^ 



„ ^ 









698 A Pioneer History of Bkckkr CorxTv. 

to Kankakee, 111. On June nth. 1861, he enlisted in the 42nd 
Illinois Volunteers and served durini;- the war. He was for five 
months in Andersonville prison where he was eruelh- treated. 
He came to Savannah in 1889. 

There is somethin^^" that the word sadness does not express, 
but that rather borders on the tragic, in settlino- up a new C(juntrv. 

Come to stern and rock-bound Xew England with our fore- 
fathers, where at Plymouth, one-half of them were buried the first 
winter. 

Come to Ohio and find Ridpath dedicating- his universal history 
"to my father and mother, who upon the rough borders of civiliza- 
tion toiled." 

Come to Savannah with the Stearns County Germans, and 
weep with them over the remains of their children, wdio w'ere 
carried ofi: 1j\ diphtheria the first summer. 

We cannot begin to tell the hardships the people endured. For- 
tunately we are now too busy to repine over these things, and the 
prospects before are bright — even cheery. 



The Lost Children. 

It was the 4th of June. 1904, in the afternoon, that Annie 
Haider, nine years old, and her aunt, Lena Haider, aged thirteen, 
started for the cows. The girls with their folks lived on Section 
10 in a very sparsely settled portion of the town. At no great 
distance on either side are dense swamps of tamarack, balsam and 
spruce. 

By the time they found the cows they were turned half way 
round by the compass. The cows were not turned round, and re- 
fused to go in the dn-ection the girls were trying to drive them. 

At last they gave up and set out for home as they thought. At 
four o'clock Annie's father heard of the errand the girls had gone 
on and set out at once to find the girls and cows. He found the 
cows. Becoming alarmed, he and six near neighbors Ijegan a 
search which they kept up past midnight, when they returned to 
the home of Andrew Haider, Lena's father. 

Annie's mother had but a few weeks before been laid in the 
grave and now she and her aunt were expected to have been de- 
voured by wolves in the mid-swami). And thus were the relatives 
tortured till the morrow. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 699 

Early next morning' twenty men renewed the search. After 
beating along up the west side of the park, the teacher, Mr. Gay- 
lord, went to the West Savannah settlement and recruited ten 
more volunteers for the hunt; all the men he saw — each man pro- 
viding himself with a rifle, lantern and lunch. Just as the recruits 
arrived at the place to begin the search the children had been 
found. 

Now to follow the children. Being afraid of Indians and Phil- 
istines they carefully avoided old shacks and even trails and struck 
for the deepest part of the forest. Fortunately, they had a hatchet 
with them and they thoughtfully marked a tree here and there, to 
be noticed later by the rescuers. 

They also agreed to answer no calls except their own names. 
Shoirtly before nightfall a cold rain set in, which did not stop until 
daybreak. About this time the fugitives selected a large spruce 
with spreading branches and climbed up several branches and 
made themselves as comfortable as possible and remained till the 
Sabbath dawned. Their guardian angel sent two night-birds to 
the old spruce and their songs somewhat softened the dreariness 
of those hours. 

Annie, by putting her head in Aunt Lena's arms, slept a while, 
but poor Lena kept sleepless vigil till morning. They again began 
wandering around in quest of home. At noon they were heard by 
John Gangl, Michael Gartner and Jerry Breitback. They were 
on the west shore of Lake Itasca, eight miles from home. The 
children were bewildered and afraid, but when they recognized 
their neighbors, vou can imagine their relief. And how they made 
away with that lunch. Then a tramp of six miles to the nearest 
house. Here a rest and refreshment gave strength to finish the 
journey, and at four o'clock, tired and wet and almost divested of 
clothing, they were folded to the hearts of relatives and play- 
mates who had gathered to receive them. A volley from the 
rifles brought in the rest of the party, who as they came troop- 
ing out of the woods, presented the appearance of a small army, 
and it was an army of friends. 

Penn. W. Martin. 



700 A Pioneer History oe Becker County, 



Chapter LIII. 



ORGANIZATION OF WHITE EARTH TOWNSHIP. 

The first town election in the town of White Earth was held 
in the village of White Earth, March 30th. 1906, and the following 
officers elected: Town clerk, R. G. Beanlieu ; treasurer, B. S. Fair- 
banks ; assessor, R. P. Fairbanks ; supervisors, G. A. Morrison, Tru- 
man Beaulieu and Frank Warren ; justices, George Fox and John 
Heisler ; road overseer, Allan J\Iorrison. 

Yours Truly, 
R. G. Beaulieu. 



ORGANIZATION OF CALLAWAY TOWNSHIP. 

The first township officers of Callaway Township are as follows : 
Geo. Bellefeuille, John Rodgers, and R. A. Preston, supervisors ; 
J. P. Ernster, clerk ; John Ernster, treasurer ; X. A. Granquist, 
justice of the peace ; Donald McDougall and Chas. Uran, constables. 
The first school board of Callaway school district No. 96: N. A. 
Granquist, clerk; John Ernster, treasurer; J. T. Porter, director. 
First postmaster of Callaway, j. T. Porter. First baby born in 
Callaway, Florence Granquist, January 4th. 1905. First build- 
ing built by N. A. Granquist for the Bovy-Schute Lumber Co. in 
July, 1904. The first township election was held in J. Ernster's 
building in the village of Callaway on the 30th of ^larch, 1906. 

J. P. Ern?.ter, Clerk. 



A PioNEElR History of Be;cker County. 701 



Chapter LIV. 



THE MAPLE, THE OAK AND THE PINE. 

What I am going- to say about some of the different species 
of timber growing in Becker County will not be new and probably 
will not be very interesting to people now living, but I am not 
writing for this generation alone, but for the future as well, and 
perhaps the history of the maple and the oak and the pine and 
the many ways in which they were utilized and an account of 
what has become of them, will be of some interest to people who 
may read this article fifty or a hundred years hence. 

Everybody in Becker County knows the sugar-making quali- 
ties of the maple family. The box-elder is very prolific in the pro- 
duction of sap. While it is not a maple it belongs to the same 
natural order or family, and yields large quantities of sugar when 
of sufficient size. Maple River in North Dakota, is so called not 
from the maple but from the box-elder that grows in abundance 
along its banks. 

Alexander Henry, the fur trader, at his camp on the Red River 
says in his journal, March nth, 1801: "The bastard maple, or 
box-elder, is beginning to run. The sap yields a fine white sugar, 
but it is not so sweet as the real maple sap and it requires more to 
make the same quantity of sugar.'' 

The soft maple and the yellow birch are also good sap producers, 
but they are both too small and too scarce in Becker County to 
be serviceable. The so called wintergreen essence is made mostly 
from the twigs of the yellow and black birch. The white birch 
also produces sap in abundance, suitable for making molasses. 
When Becker County was first settled there was considerable 
hard maple distributed throughout the timbered portions of the 
county. It would not compare favorably with the maple in south- 
ern Minnesota or in the states farther east, but in Cormorant, 
Lake Eunice, Lake View, Burlington, Erie, Holmesville, Rich- 
wood, Detroit, the south part of Audubon and of Lake Park 
there was considerable maple of a fair quality. It was also quite 
plentiful on the White Earth Reservation and grew in some of the 
eastern towns in small amount. The hard maple, however, has been 
fast disappearing for a long time owing to the high price of that 



702 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

kind of wood, and from present indications there will be none left 
to tell the tale in a few more years, except small trees and brush. 
^lost people of the present generation know how the maple sugar 
is made, but the time will come when it will be a matter of history or 
tradition, and it is as good a time now as ever to get it into history. 
The white man had two ways of tapping maple trees, one of which 
was to chop a notch in the tree and drive a circular spout under 
the notch into a hole made with a circular steel gouge, which 
carried the sap to a wooden trough or bucket. Another method 
was to bore two or three holes, and drive in round hollow spouts 
and hang a bucket or a pail on one of these spouts to catch the 
sap. The sap was then taken to the boiling camp in two pails, 
suspended from a neck-yoke carried on a man's shoulders. Then 
the sap was boiled down in kettles or sheet iron pans to either 
sugar or molasses, and in this county it was generally made into 
molasses by the whites. In New York, fifty years ago, the maple 
trees would average about two pounds of sugar in a season, but 
in Becker County it is doubtful if ever more than half that amount 
could be produced, as the sugar season is much shorter and the 
trees are smaller. It takes about fifteen pails full of sap to make 
a pound of sugar. After the sap has been boiled to molasses 
the further process of making it into sugar is simple. All that 
is necessary is to keep on boiling until the water is all Ijoiled out, 
when it will begin to grain when allowed to cool. After the water 
is all evaporated, there is danger of burning the sugar, so it should 
be taken from the fire at once as it will become very hot, the same as 
lard. Before finishing the batch it can be cleansed and made 
whiter by breaking an egg into the syrup, or putting in half a 
pint of sweet milk. This causes the dirt impurities to rise to the 
top in a thick scum which can be easily skimmed off. The usual 
method of ascertaining when the syrup was sufficiently boiled down 
for molasses was to dip some of the liquid up with a long handled 
dipper, then pour it back into the kettle and if the last drops would 
run together and accumulate in a mass, as they dropped from the 
edge of the dipper instead of falling in separate drops, it was 
said to be "syruped down," and was then taken out of the kettle, 
strained and stored away until suf^cient quantity was accumulated 
from several days' boilings for the final process of sugaring off. It 
was then thick enough to keep it from souring. When a sufficient 
quantity had been accumulated to fill the kettle about one-third 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 703 

full, it was all poured back into the kettle and boiled over a slow 
fire. In order to ascertain when all the water was boiled out of 
the sugar, a slender sprout or branch was usually cut from a willow 
or an elm, an open knot tied in the small end of the sprout making a 
loop about an inch in diameter. The loop end of the sprout was 
then dipped into the syrup and when taken out if a film remained, 
stretched across, filling the loop, like soap suds in an old fashioned 
clay pipe, when making soap bubbles, the water was all boiled 
out and the syrup was ready to harden as soon as cooled off. 
Stirring the syrup with a paddle gives it a finer grain. The In- 
dians formerly made considerable sugar in this county. They 
notched the trees the same as the white man, and caught the sap 
in pans made of birch bark that would hold about a gallon apiece. 
After gathering the sap from the trees, they stored it away at the 
boiling camp in a long trough made by cutting the interior out 
of a large basswood log. The white man always selected the largest 
and the soundest tree he could find, but a big hollow tree was always 
selected by the Indian as it took less work to dig it out. The 
holes at the hollow ends of the trough were plugged up with wooden 
blocks and pine pitch. Some of these troughs would hold several 
barrels of sap. The Indians always boil their sap in kettles. In 
boiling sap it is liable to foam and boil over occasionally in which 
case the white man was accustomed to throw in a small piece of 
fat pork. The Indian instead of throwing in pork would generally 
throw in fish or a skinned muskrat, which answered the double 
purpose of checking the overflow of the sap and cooking the fish 
or the rat at the same time. Indian sugar camps were formerly 
quite numerous in the southern and central sections of the county, 
but they are now a thing of the past, outside the reservation. 

The bur oak was originally very abundant in Becker County 
particularly in the southern and central parts, and nearly all the 
timber in the prairie groves in the western towns was bur oak. 
In the belt of timber stretching through Richwood, Detroit. Lake 
View, Lake Eunice, Cormorant and the south part of Lake Park 
and Audubon the oak was the principal timber and the most of 
it was of a very good quality. In passing from the west to the 
east, the entire breadth of the county, the oak becomes less and 
less in quantity until reaching the eastern tier of towns where there 
was but little to be found. 



704 A PioxKiiR IIisToRv OF Bkcker County. 

Tliere was a i^reat demand fur Dak for liiml)cr, tindicr. fencini;', 
railroad ties and fuel from the time the Xorthern Pacific Rail- 
road was bnilt until the present time, and there is now l)ut little 
left. In the neighborhood of a million railroad ties have been 
made in liecker County and used on the Xorthern Pacific in the 
last thirty-three years. There was originally about one hundred 
and twenty-five million feet of oak timber in the county suitable 
for huuber. This is nearly all gone except what is on the A\diite 
Earth Reservation amounting to something like tw-enty-five mil- 
lion feet. In addition to the above ties and lumber about three 
hundred thousand cords of oak wood have been cut, two-thirds 
of which was used by the Northen Pacific Company or shipped 
to the prairie regions of Dakota. 

The bur oak is a tree peculiar to the Northwest : it being 
very rare in the eastern and southern states. Of the nineteen 
different species of oak found in the northern states onlv three are 
found in Pecker County. The l)ur oak, the red or scarlet oak 
and the white oak. The latter is very scarce and like the yellow 
birch and the soft maple and the black cherry is more abuntlant 
in the southern part of the county than farther north, but all 
four of them are more plentiful and grow larger as you proceed 
south from Becker County. 

In 1870 there were some fine tracts of pine tind^er in the east- 
ern and central portions of Becker County. Nothing can excel 
the beauty and grandeur of a pine forest in a state of nature and 
some of the pine groves of Becker County would compare favor- 
ably with any in the state. There was a hundred and sixty acre 
tract in Section 13, Township of Height of Land from which four 
million eight hundred thousand feet of pine were cut. It was 
a beautiful sight wdien standing. It was about half white pine 
and half Norway. The trees were tall, straight and large withcnit 
any underbrush or fallen timber. 

The grove of pine west of the Otter Tail River in Erie was 
a magnificent grove although many of the trees were unsound. 
There were about six million feet in this grove on about six 
hundred and forty acres, all white pine. About half of it was cut 
by George B. Wright in the winter of 1874-5 and floated down 
the Otter Tail River to Fergus Falls. Wright had taken seven 
forties of land in this grove with Sioux half-breed script, before 
it was surveved. AA'right also cut the best of the timber on Sec- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 705 

tions 13, 24 and 25 in the town of Height of Land, x^lso the best 
of the timber on Sections 18 and 19 in Toad Lake and floated it 
down Toad River and the ( )tter Tail to Fergus Falls in 1875, 1876 
and 1877. 

N. P. Clark of St. Cloud afterwards cut the best of what was 
left in the vicinity of Toad River and floated the logs down Toad 
River and the Red River to Winnipeg, Afanitoba. This was 
about 1 88 1 -2-3. At one time there were thirteen logging dams 
on Toad River. A. H. Wilcox and R. L. Frazee cut nearly all 
the pine on the waters of the Otter Tail, south of the reservation 
that George B. Wright had not cut. The Commonwealth Lum- 
ber Company cut and hauled to the Otter Tail about thirty million 
feet of logs from the waters of the Shell River and from the coun- 
try away east of the Toad River. Some of them were hauled 
as far as sixteen miles. The pine in Plolmesville nearly all went 
down the Buffalo River to Richwood and a few hundred thousand 
feet went there from the western part of Grand Park. The larg- 
est part of the pine on the waters of the Shell and Straight Rivers 
was cut by Weyerhauser and others and run down the Crow 
Wing River to Little Falls and iNIinneapolis, while the pine in 
Savannah and Two Inlets went down the Fish Hook River to 
Park Rapids and points lower down. 

I think that the farthest west that any pine grew- to any size 
in Becker County and probably in the state of Minnesota was in 
the township of Detroit. 

A small clump of five or six white pine trees stood near the 
center on Section 36, and were cut by Furber and Baldwin along 
about 1883 or 1884, and sawed up at their portable mill. This 
little group of pine trees was plainly visible from some parts of 
the village. One of the trees was three feet in diameter, another 
about two feet, wdiile the others were smaller. I think there was 
a big pine tree and a small one on the east shore of Rice Lake on 
Section 14, of Detroit, in an early day. There were also two large 
pine trees in the northeast part of the township, on Section 11, and 
these undoubtedly grew the farthest west of all. I passed close 
to these two trees in 1871 and they were plainly visible from the 
west side of Floyd Lake. 

The following list will give approximate!}' the amount of 
white and Xorwa}' pine growing in Becker Countv before anv of 
it was cut. In the eastern tier of townships and in Carsonville it 



7o6 A PioNEE^R History op Be;cke;r County, 

was mostly Norway, but west of these the white pine predomi- 
nated : 

Feet. Feet 

Detroit 5,000 Green Valley 12,000,000 

Burlington 3,000,000 Osage 10,000,000 

Erie 8,000,000 Two Inlets 45,000,000 

Holmesville 5,000,000 Savannah 35.000,000 

Grand Park 12,000,000 T. 141. R. 37 15.000000 

Height of Land 15,000,000 " " " 38 20,000,000 

Silver Leaf 5,000,000 " " " 39 20,000,000 

Evergreen 5,000,000 " " " 40 5,000,000 

Toad Lake 7,000,000 T. 142. R. 40 20,000,000 

Shell Lake 15,000,000 " " " 39 30,000,000 

Carsonville 35,000,000 " " " 38 70,000,000 

Wolf Lake 25,000,000 " " " 37 80,000,000 

Spruce Grove 2,000,000 

Runeberg 3,000,000 Total 502,005,000 

It took just about one and one-half million trees of average 
size to make this amount of lumber. 

One object in writing" this article is to show up Becker County 
as it was in the beginning; to present it to the present and the 
coming generations as it appeared in a state of nature. Already 
several of its former inhabitants, members of the animal kingdom 
have disappeared forever. Among the winged fraternity we may 
mention the wild pigeon, and of the quadrupeds, the elk, the ante- 
lope, the buffalo and the panther. Other species such as the deer, 
the moose, the bear, and the wolf are following in the same path, 
to the same destiny ; and with them the white pine and the Norway, 
the two species that for magnificence, nobility and utility stood 
at the head of the list of Becker County forest trees, are destined 
to share the same fate. 

The county has been settled only thirty-five years and yet you 
can hardly find a white pine or a Norway of respectable dimen- 
sions outside of the reservation in the whole county. Even now 
the young pines are being cut as fast as they are large enough to 
make lath or shingles and before they are old enough to reproduce 
their own species. In fifty years a pine stump will be a curiosity 
as that is about the life time of a white pine stump. With the pine 
will go the logging industry and all its different belongings, in- 
cluding the big logging sleds, broad-gauge logging roads, the 
log drive, the boom, the sawmill and the lumber Jack. In a few 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 707 

years all these things will belong to the past and it is for future 
generations that I now write. 

Before beginning logging operations for the winter, the first 
thing was to put up hay of which the natural meadows furnish an 
abundance, and all it cost was the making and the stacking and 
hauling it to the camp. The next thing was to build a camp ; 
they were usually built of logs and covered with earth, when 
used for the men, as no roof will keep a building as warm as a 
good covering of that material. The stables were usually covered 
by building haystacks on top of them. There was always a cook- 
room in the camp, a sleeping room or two. a warehouse and gen- 
erally a blacksmith shop. A good cellar was always made under 
the cook-room and generally kept well stored with vegetables. 
The camp was usually built near a spring, but in the absence of a 
spring one or more wells was a necessity. There were usually 
froni twenty-five to one hundred men in one of these camps. The 
next move was to locate and grade the roads for the winter's work. 
The main road to the landing where the logs were to be hauled 
must be located with care. It must not be too crooked or the 
grades too steep. 

They never expect to climb a grade steeper than five feet in 
a hundred if they can avoid it, although they frequently go down 
hills that are alarmingly steep by putting spruce brush or hay or 
coarse stable manure in the ruts. I have always looked for some 
serious accident in going down these steep hills with heavy loads 
but never knew one to happen. These roads are generally built 
twenty-five feet wide. The stumps should all be dug out, the sur- 
face of the ground ploughed down smooth and uniform and ruts 
made for both runners of an uniform width apart, generally seven 
or eight feet to correspond with the width of the sleds. These 
ruts are usually dug six or eight inches deep, the whole length of 
the logging roads, and are then sprinkled with water at intervals 
of two or three days. This sprinkling is usually done at night 
when the roads are not used, by means of a big box tank holding 
from fifteen to twenty barrels of water mounted on a pair of log- 
ging sleds and hauled over the road. The water freezes to the 
ruts of course and in a short time they are built up on each side 
with ice and soon become hard and glary. A load can be hauled 
twice as heavy as on an ordinary snow road. Each set of sleds is 
made with four runners of immense size. The runners are cut 



7o8 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

out of oak plank eight feet long, fourteen inches wide and four 
inches thick and are strengthened with iron plates and are held 
in place by beams or bunks of oak from fourteen to sixteen feet 
long and never less than a foot square. The ends of these bunks 
protrude four feet beyond the runners which are usually eight feet 
apart thus giving the sled a breadth of from fourteen to sixteen 
feet. The sled runners are of course kept well shod with steel 
shoes. 

These main roads have branches running all through the woods 
where the logs are cut. After the logs are cut they are rolled up 
onto skidways of from one hundred to three hundred logs in a 
skidway. 

These skidways are usual!}- made alongside the road in places 
where the ground is more or less sloping towards the road, 
thus giving a downhill roll towards the sled when they are being 
loaded. They are also made wdiere the road has somewdiat of a 
downhill grade, so that the load will have a slight downhill start 
when it is ready to go. These loads are usually hauled with four 
horses, although sometimes, when there is no uphill grade, only 
two are used. Now here is where the marvelous in the logging 
business comes in. It is almost incredible what loads can be 
hauled on these big sleds over an ice road. 

The first tier of logs is always rolled onto the sled by hand, 
but the balance of the load is rolled up with horses, sometimes 
with one but usually with two. They always pull on the side of 
the sled opposite the skidway, a long rope called a parbuckle is 
used, which is thrown back over the load and passed under the 
log to be rolled up and hooked to some log in the load by means 
of a swamp hook with a sharp steel point fastened to the end of 
the parbuckle. The other end of the rope is then hooked to the 
team and the log rolled up onto the sled. The outside logs in the 
bottom of the load are chained to the four corners or the ends 
of the two bunks with great heavy chains and fastened with a key 
that can be readily knocked out when ready to unload at the river 
landing. The load is also bound by wrapping chains around the 
load fore and aft when built up six or seven feet above the sled. 
Above that the logs are rolled up to a peak as long as there is 
room for one to stay on the load. The top log is called a white 
cap. In this way from sixty to one hundred and fifty logs are 
loaded onto one sled. The logs usually average about one hun- 



7IO A PioNKER History of Be;cki<;r County. 

dred feet to a log, so that a common load contains about eight 
thousand to twelve thousand feet when sawed into lumber. They 
look like young mountains moving through the woods. The load 
in the picture, however, is a scjuare load. 

When spring comes the logs must be floated to the mill. If 
they are landed on a river, and there are no lakes to go through, 
all there is to be done is to keep the channel open so that the logs 
can pass through with the current of the stream. The logs, how- 
ever, are bound to gorge and form a jam at narrow and shallow 
places. Here is where the science and skill of the lumber Jack 
come in play. It always takes a good man to break a jam and 
generally it takes three or four, and it is always a dangerous busi- 
ness. A passage is finally opened up through the jam while other 
jams form below, which in their turn have a passage opened 
through them much narrower than the natural breadth of the 
stream and consequently the depth of the water is corresponding- 
ly increased. In this way the river is finally winged up with logs 
for miles at a stretch after which the passage of the logs is but 
seldom interrupted. The rear of the drive is being continually 
worked ofif, and the logs sent on ahead through this narrowed up 
channel. Frequently the logs in these big gorges or jams are 
piled up many*feet higher than the water, and when the rear of the 
drive reaches the big jam the science of the lumber Jack is again 
brought into requisition. These gorges of logs are usually worked 
off by blocking the channel of the river w^ith logs lower down, and 
making another jam or dam which soon raises the water sufficient- 
ly to float off the logs in the old jam at the rear. Perhaps the 
logs in the new jam will have to be floated off in the same way, 
and the process may have to be repeated by continually making 
jams with the logs to float off the old ones until the logs are land- 
ed in the mill-pond. 

If the logs are landed in a lake or if they pass through lakes 
they will have to be boomed. The logs are always unloaded from 
the sleds onto the ice as compactly as possible. They are then 
surrounded with boom sticks which are nothing more nor less 
than whole pine trees fifty or sixty feet in length. The ends are 
then chained together with short chains the links of which are 
made of iron five-eighths of an inch in diameter. The chains are 
inserted through a hole bored through the ends of the boom sticks 
with a three inch ausfer. There is a "T" at each end of these chains 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 711 

which are plugged into these holes with wooden plugs, good and 
tight. Some of the booms of the Nichols Chisolm Lumber Com- 
pany cover a surface of one hundred and sixty acres in extent. 
Accompanying each log drive is a wanagan or houseboat thirtv 
or forty feet long and from six to ten feet wide on which is carried 
the camp outfit and the provisions. The wanagan is generally 
kept in the rear of the drive and is used exclusively as a store- 
house and a kitchen. The men sleep in camps on shore and eat 
outside, sometimes around a temporary table and sometimes sit- 
ting around a big fire. The Nichols Chisolm Lumber Company 
pull their booms across Height of Land Lake with a small steam- 
boat. I used to pull mine across by means of a windlass stationed 
on a big raft twenty-five feet in diameter connected with an 
anchor by a cable one thousand feet long. The anchor with the 
cable attached was sent on ahead in a boat and at the full length 
of the cable the anchor was thrown out into the lake, when by 
means of the windlass, the cable would be wound up and the 
boom drawn up to the anchor. This was comparatively easy 
wdien there was no wind, but it only took a slight head-wind to 
hold back a boom of that dimension, sometimes for several days 
at a time. AAHien these logs arrive at the sawmill they are sawn 
up at the rate of two hundred and fifty thousand feet or more in 
twenty hours. 

A lumber Jack is a man who works in the lumber woods in the 
winter, on the log drives in the spring and in the sawmills in the 
summer and fall. They are a strong, good-natured set of men, 
generally good workers and a valuable class of men for the lum- 
bermen. 

They are generally sent to the lumber camps in October and 
November and remain all winter and come down with the logs 
in the spring. 

Although they are shut off from the outside world, the lumber 
camp is a little world by itself. While the work is hard and the 
weather sometimes severe there is an excitement about the work 
that relieves the severity and the monotony to a great extent, and 
the days, weeks and months swiftly and pleasantly pass away, 
and when the spring comes and the winter's work is brought to a 
close, it brings many a feeling of regret at being obliged to leave 
their comfortable winter quarters which have been their home for 
so many months. There is an excitement connected with the 
felling of the huge pine trees, cutting them into logs and rolling 



712 A PioxEKR History of Becke;r County. 

them high on the skidways, loading them on the monstrous sleds 
and then watching the little mountains of logs as thev start on 
their icy road to the river or lake, that is fascinating in the ex- 
treme and goes a long way towards relieving the monotony of a 
long, cold winter. A favorite diversion is to play tricks or pranks 
on one another ; particularly on some tenderfoot who happens to 
be a little green by nature, or on some unsuspecting redskin. Some- 
times they will send a newcomer to a neighboring camp to bor- 
row a bean hole. \Mien once there they will tell him that they 
have none, but if he will go on to the next camp a few miles far- 
ther he will be sure to get one, and probably he will be kept going 
all day from one camp to another before he discovers the joke. 
Sometimes they send him to borrow a round turn which is the 
name of a circular road cut out in the thick underljrush or timber 
where they can turn a pair of big logging sleds around. A bean 
hole is a hole dug in the ground and used for baking beans. 

At a lumber camp where I was once staying over Sunday, an 
Indian came with an ax that he wanted ground. The men told 
him all right the}' would grind the ax if he would turn the grind- 
stone. They moved the grind stone up to the stove, built a big 
fire antl the grinding began about ten o'clock in the morning. 
They kept the poor Indian turning until two o'clock in the after- 
noon, during which time six or eight different white men had taken 
turns grinding the ax. The stove was kept hot, the Indian per- 
spired until the sweat dropped off the corners of his breech-cloth 
and the ax was ground away until nearly ruined. The poor fellow 
never saw through the joke. 

On the log drive, however, is where the courage, endurance 
and skill of the lumber Jack is put to the test. I have been around 
the world considerable and have worked a little at nearly every- 
thing myself, but I think the severest test of physical endurance 
and manhood and pluck, war only excepted, is the log drive. 
Working from daylight to dark, much of the time up to the 
middle in ice cold water, never stopping for rain or storm, con- 
tinually breaking log jams or floating stranded logs from the rear, 
many of which have to be carried or sacked by the main strength 
of eight or ten men to the deep water and many a time not even 
having a chance to dry the wet clothes at night ; if all this is not 
a thorough test of a man's strength, tenacity and endurance, I would 
like to know where or in what occupation you will find it. When 



A Pioneb;r History of Beckkr County. 713 

the log drive is over and the logs landed safely in the mill pond 
and the log drivers receive their cash, then trouble and cares are 
forgotten and many of them begin on what they call a "rattling 
good time." While some of them are strictly temperate and steady 
men a majority of them will indulge in a spree when their labors 
are done and in many instances it is kept up until every cent of 
their six months pay is gone. After a few days sobering up and 
resting, they scatter away to the sawmills and harvest fields to 
take a new start in the world and are sure to be on hand again 
for the woods for the next winter. 

A few men, however, wdio formerly followed the river driving, 
are now prosperous farmers, among wdiom we ma}' mention Wil- 
liam Pearce of Burlington, and Charles Romberg and John Stearns 
of Erie. 

Every lumber camp has its foreman, who is generally a person 
of considerable importance and authority. He frequently has a 
room by himself and does not mix up with the other men very 
much, but this is not always the case. Another important person 
is the scaler who measures the logs. His visit to the camp is gen- 
erally periodical, coming every few days or few weeks according to 
the amount of logs that are being cut. At some very large camps, 
however, the scaler is kept busy scaling logs at the one landing 
place all winter. Scaling logs in cold, wintery weather is dis- 
agreeable work, and it requires considerable skill and experience 
to become an expert scaler. 

The scaler is looked up to by the ordinary lumber Jack and 
his profession is often the height of the ambition of most of the 
men of the woods. The personage, however, who towers above all 
other men who work in the pineries, is the cruiser. He is looked 
up to by the scaler, the foreman and the lumber Jack alike. His 
visits to the lumber camp are even less frequent than those of the 
scaler. The best of everything the camp afifords is at his service. 
In the lumber regions farther east, from Maine to Michigan, he 
is called an estimator. He is a sort of a compound of surveyor, 
woodsman, scaler and adventurer. He roams the woods over afoot 
and alone, looking up, estimating and locating timber lands for 
the lumberman. He carries his bed and provisions on his back, 
sleeps under a tree at night, is exposed to all the storms of the 
season, runs his lines with a small compass, and counts his foot- 



714 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

steps by way of measurement with a degree of precision and ex- 
actness which is ahiiost be)ond behef. 

He usually traces out the hues of each forty-acre tract and 
estimates the timber growing thereon by itself and it is surprising 
how near the estimates of some of them will correspond with the 
amount of timber actually cut and scaled on the same ground 
afterwards. 

To facilitate his work and save a large amount of traveling 
he frequently climbs to the top of one of the tallest trees on the 
summit of the highest hill in the neighborhood. From there his 
eye can take in the country for miles around and he determines 
the location of any pine growing in the vicinity. The work of 
the cruiser is both fascinating and dangerous. In the fall of 1872, 
a man by the name of Kelly started out all alone to look for pine 
in the eastern part of Becker County and a part of Hubbard County, 
working from Red Eye River northward. As far as I know he 
never has been heard from to this day and it is supposed he was 
killed by falling from some tree or was so badly crippled that he 
was unable to reach civilization. 

In the course of another generation there will be no big steam 
sawmill in Becker County and but very few in the state of ]\Iinne- 
sota, and a description of the mill at Frazee will answer very well 
for that class of mills in general. 

In mills of this class steam has superceded the water power 
altogether as nothing but steam has been found that can create 
the lightning-like speed required by some of the machinery in a 
modern sawmill. For instance, the log carriage instead of being 
propelled back and forth by cog or rope feed as of old, is now 
run by a device akin to the steam engine itself. A piston rod 
thirty feet or more in length and four inches in diameter working 
in a cylinder of about the same length is attached to the end of 
the carriage, working it to and fro by the stroke of the piston with 
a speed almost without limit, but is easily regulated by the lever 
in the hands of the head sawyer. 

All logs are now sawed with a band saw, which runs on the 
same principle as any ordinary belt. These saws are thirt}' or forty 
feet in length and the ends brazen together forming a continuous 
steel belt or band which is run over two large pulleys one above 
and one underneath the carriage. The teeth usually occupy only 
one end of the saw working downward as nearly perpendicular 



A Pione;e;r History of Becker County, 715 

as possible. I have, however, seen mills where there were teeth 
on both edges of the saw taking ofif a board while the carriage 
runs backward as well as forward. 

The logs are brought into the mill on an inclined plane by means 
of an endless chain. Once inside the mill they are rolled down 
a sloping skidway nearly to the carriage where they are handled 
by the "nigger," a large, strong lever which both pushes the log 
onto the carriage and turns it over and over afterwards. It is 
astonishing with what ease, precision and rapidity a big log can 
be knocked and cuffed around and turned over with one of these 
devices when manipulated by an expert sawyer. 

The Frazee mill saws not less than 2,400 averaged sized logs 
in twenty hours, making about two hundred and forty thousand 
feet of lumber. As there are just twelve hundred minutes in 
twenty hours, the mill saws an average of two logs every minute 
during , that period of time. 

After leaving the band saw, some of the lumber is split with 
the "re-saw" which is to say, a four inch plank is split into two 
two-inch planks and some of the tw'O-inch planks are in turn split 
into inch boards. The boards and plank are all then run through 
the gang edger where the uneven edges are trimmed off and some 
of the planks are ripped into joists and scantlings and some of 
the best boards into flooring. It then passes through the trimmer, 
where both ends are sawed off making the length of all boards 
and dimensions of any given length the same. It is then carried 
by endless chains to the platform where it is sorted and loaded 
into wagons ready to be hauled to the yard and piled. The Frazee 
sawmill is two hundred and ten feet long and sixty wude and is run 
by a three hundred horse power engine. The lumber yard covers 
fifteen acres of ground and the whole extent is frequently covered 
thick with lumber piles fifteen feet high. 

The people of Frazee can thank Ray W. Jones for getting them 
the mill in the first place. The Commonwealth Lumber Company 
was organized early in the year 1897 with Thomas Monroe, presi- 
dent; James Monroe, vice-president; and Ray W, Jones, secretary 
and treasurer. 

The company was re-organized in November, 1904, with James 
Nichols, president; F. H. Rawson, vice-president; and R. G. Chis- 
olm, secretary and treasurer ; and the people of Frazee can thank 
Messrs. Chisolm and Nichols for its permanent and successful 
operation now and in the future. 



71 6 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

The name of the company now is the Nichols Chisohn Lum- 
ber Company. 



Chapter LV. 



THE NELSON-KINDRED CONVENTION. 

The followinjT article was copied, with the consent of the author, 
from IL P. Hall's Observations: 

The following is the opening paragraph of a telegram I sent my paper, 
the St. Paul Globe, from Detroit. Minn., on the 12th of July, i88_': 

"Hell reigneth. The Lord be praised. If tlie religious sentiments of 
these phrases seem to be mixed I can assure you that it corresponds to the 
political situation in the Fifth district." 

That was the famous day when the double-headed convention was held 
at Detroit and evolved Knute Nelson and C. F. Kindred as Republican 
candidates for Congress. The Fifth district was a monster territorially and 
in number of counties, having twenty-eight, as follows: 

Aitkin, Benton, Becker, Baltrami, Big Stone, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow 
Wing, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Itasca, Kittson, Lake, Marshall, Morrison, 
Mille Lacs. Otter Tail, Pope, Polk. Stearns, Stevens, St. Louis. Traverse. 
Todd, Wadena and Wilkin. 

It was the first election since the Fifth district had been constructed, 
and the rivalry for the nomination was intense. The leading candidates were 
Knute Nelson, of Alexandria, and C. F. Kindred, of Brainerd, though C. 
A. Oilman, of St. Cloud, and C. H. Graves, of Duluth, were in the field 
as well. Mr. Kindred was wealthy, and he spared no expense in materializ- 
ing his boom. Kindred clubs were formed, brass bands were hired, printed 
matter was sent out, and sufificient paraphernalia gathered to run a national 
campaign. The Kindred forces went into the work with the enthusiasm 
born of youth and inexperience, while the Nelson forces stolidly relied 
upon his strength among his countrymen to carry him through. 

At first the county conventions called to send delegates to the district 
convention at Detroit were conducted with some degree of fairness, though 
in every case the contest would be a sharp one. After one or two county 
conventions had split and sent double delegates, a spirit of recklessness 
broke out, and wdiichever side rightfully had control of the county con- 
vention the other proceeded to make an excuse for a split and send a con- 
testing delegation. 

There was absolutely no attempt to be fair in this contest for the Con- 
gressional nomination. This statement applies to both the Nelson and the 
Kindred forces, but a good deal more to the Kindred than to the Nelson 
men, because Nelson was really stronger, and had a more substantial back- 
ing than Kindred. Kindred in reality had but little backing but his money, 
and it was the deliberate plan whenever Nelson had carried a county for 
the Kindred men to come in and hold another convention, appointing a 



A Pione;er History of Backer County. 717 

double delegation. Of course this bore the usual fruit of a split in the 
convention, and if the Scandinavian element had not been so enormously 
strong in Northern Minnesota it would have resulted in Knute Nelson's 
defeat, as well as Kindred's. As it was, Nelson proved invincible, and not 
only won in that campaign, but went on to win in the future, until he had 
achieved national renown. 

In some cases an extra county convention was held without any pre- 
tense of authority, and it was very evident that Nelson and Kindred, or 
their friends, intended to make a double district convention. The result 
was that when the district convention was due to meet, there were only 18 
out of 28 counties which could lay any claim to being "regular." When 
the Nelson and Kindred forces separated and held two conventions there 
were 20 counties represented in the Nelson convention and 23 in the Kindred 
department. Here was an aggregate of delegates from 43 counties in a 
district which contained but 28. The contests made the excess. 

The call for the convention directed it to assemble at Bowman's hall, 
in Detroit, Minn., at i p. m., on the 12th of July. The interest and excite- 
ment were immense, and all signs pointed to a bloody riot as the result rath- 
er than to a harmonious convention. The delegates and the contestants 
aggregated 125, and it is no exaggeration to say that there were between 
three and four hundred outsiders present, as friends of the respective can- 
didates. The little town was fairly wild, and I venture to say the five 
saloons never did so big business before nor since. 

As usual the contestants began sparring for "regularity." The first 
point was to secure the temporary chairman, in order to capture the com- 
mittee on credentials. It is usual for the chairman of the district committee 
to call the convention to order. Geo. H. Johnston, of Detroit, was the chair- 
man, and though he professed friendship for Nelson, he was, in reality, a 
Kindred man. There were nine members of the committee present, and 
finding that they could not agree on any plan of organization, the Nelson 
men on the committee, by a vote of five, removed Johnston as chairman and 
appointed Lieut.-Gov. Barto, of Stearns, in his place. They considered 
three plans of organization: Admitting only uncontested delegates, admit- 
ting all and let them fight it out in convention, admitting those from coun- 
ties which the chairman of the county committee would certify were "regu- 
lar." The Nelson men on the committee insisted on absolutely naming 
the delegates who should be allowed to enter the hall, but this Johnston 
would not permit, and so it was a fight from the start. Detroit was a red- 
hot Kindred town, and the sheriff swore in thirty deputies, mostly, perhaps 
all, favorable to Kindred. The hall would not contain the crowd, and the 
sherifif and his deputies were on hand to prevent any but delegates entering. 
The Nelson men had erected a tent near the town, and there they gathered 
to march to the hall. The Kindred men, to guard against accidents, had 
smuggled a force into the hall at 11 a. m., and they had lunch sent in and 
camped there. When the Nelson men marched in a body from the tent 
to the hall they were astonished to find all the front seats occupied. Tliere 
was great disturbance at the foot of the stairs. A good many Kindred 
delegates were still on the outside and all of the Nelson men. A Kindred 



7i8 A Pione;e;r History of Bkcke;r County. 

and a Nelson man stood at the foot of the stairs and identified their respec- 
tive delegates, and the sheriflfs would only allow those to go up who were 
vouched for. The early camping in the hall of the Kindred men gave them 
a good many outsiders who had come to fight, if necessary, and in a 
square battle, which was expected, the Nelson men would have been 
thrashed. I think the fact that the Kindred men had by their device, got- 
ten their forces in the hall in such numbers was a peace measure. There 
were probably a hundred men present in the hall with pistols in their pock- 
ets, and it was a wonder some one did not fire the first shot. If any one 
had, it would have been gory before the last one was fired. 

Johnston refused to be deposed from the chairmanship because he was 
appointed by the State Central Committee, and Capt. H. A. Castle, Secre- 
tary of the State Central Committee, was there to certify to the fact. It was 
i:iS when Johnston struggled through the crowd to get to the platform, and 
Barto was close behind. When they reached the platform Johnston an- 
nounced that they had decided to clear the hall, and then he and Barto 
would issue tickets. Barto said they would give Nelson and Kindred lOO 
each and Oilman and Graves 26 each. The Kindred men objected on the 
ground that Oilman and Craves were really for Nelson, and hence it would 
give the Nelson men the largest number. The Kindred men were satis- 
fied as it was. While the controversy was going on, a Kindred man nomi- 
nated E. G. Holmes, of Detroit, for chairman. Johnston put the motion and 
declared it carried. Holmes bounded to the platform in a twinkling and 
started his convention. The Nelson men were a little behind, but not much. 
Some Nelson man made a motion to elect S. G. Comstock, of Moorhead, 
temporary chairman, and Barto put the motion so quickly that Comstock 
leaped to the platform and began the Nelson convention only a few seconds 
behind the Kindred. Then there was pandemonium let loose. Every one 
seemed to be yelling at the same time. Holmes and Comstock stood side by 
side and their respective adherents would rush to the front and make mo- 
tions which the chairman would declare carried. After about five minutes of 
this scene, ex-Sherifif Mertz, of Brainerd, a very resolute man and a warm 
friend of Kindred, jumped on the platform and, grabbing Comstock, tried 
to pull him off, saying, "You have no business here." It was scarcely a sec- 
ond before 30 or 40 men were on the stage to aid Comstock and Mertz re- 
spectively, and they were a good deal hustled about. Comstock stood his 
ground well and resisted being dragged ofif the platform, but did not strike 
a blow. The crowd had overturned the reporters' table and we had mount- 
ed an extemporized table to get a view of the fight. As the excitement was 
at its highest, crash went our table and we were all tumbled promiscuously 
to the floor. I believe that little accident was providential. It made a 
laugh, and laughter and anger are not close friends. It also diverted at- 
tention for a moment and by the time we had picked ourselves up from the 
floor, the sheriff, with ten or twelve deputies, was on the platform command- 
ing the peace and hustling men off the stage. Partial quiet was secured, when 
Johnston declared that he would recognize but one chairman, and that was 
Holmes. Barto, in reply, insisted that he (Barto) was chairman of the 
district committee by a vote of five out of nine. Capt. Castle's statement 
was then made, as already mentioned, and the Kindred men yelled. 



A Pione;p:r History op Becker County. 719 

Johnston then proceeded to read the call for the convention, a proceed- 
ing which should have been done before the chairman was selected. He was 
nearly through when it occurred to Barto to read it also, and he began on 
the same document. And then a fresh riot sprung up. Not a word of the 
reading could be heard, and eight or ten were trying to make speeches in 
the midst of the yells. Johnston finally shouted an order to clear the stage 
of every one but the committee and the reporters. That would have re- 
moved both Holmes and Comstock. He said he had hired the hall and 
would have it cleared. On this announcement a Nelson man shouted: "I 
move the convention adjourn to the tent on the prairie." Comstock put the 
motion and declared it carried. Johnston was shouting in the meantime 
that the "regular" convention would be held in that hall and invited every 
one to remain. Comstock, notwithstanding he had declared the convention 
adjourned to the tent, did not want to lose any points on "regularity." He 
declined to go unless he was put out, so that he would have valid grounds 
for holding a convention somewhere else. As all the deputy sheriffs were 
Kindred men, one of them accommodated him by walking with him to the 
head of the stairs. H. L. Gordon, of ^linneapolis (not a delegate or even 
a resident of the district) mounted a chair and urged the Nelson, Graves and 
Gilman men to leave. A deputy sherifif grabbed him and escorted him to 
the door as a disturber of the peace. 

The doors had been guarded both from inside and out to keep the crowd 
from rushing in, and the stairway was so packed the Nelson men had great 
difficulty in leaving. Finally Mr. Bowman, the owner of the hall, got the 
doors open and spiked them, so that if there was another row upstairs there 
would be a chance to run. But the Kindred men remained in the hall, 
while the Nelson forces met at the tent, and two love feasts were set in 
motion. 

Nelson may be said to have entered prominent political life direct from 
the tented field. The prairie breezes which fanned his brow that sultry 
July afternoon have been a kind harbinger to him and wafted him onward 
and upward until he reached the Senate. The only object of holding the 
convention in the tent must have been to put the crowd in a hot box, for 
it was literally a case of "standing room only," there being no seats or 
tables within, and it might as well have been held on the open prairie. But 
there was harmony, because all of those who were opposed to Nelson were 
attending the convention at Bowman's hall. 

S. G. Comstock brought his right to be chairman at the hall to the tent. 
It was a case where a man took up his rank and walked. He accordingly 
called the tent convention to order and proceeded at once to prove that that 
was the "regular" convention and any other would be a fraud. He pre- 
sented the report of the district committee, which the chairman, Mr. John- 
ston, of Detroit, would not recognize. That report disclosed that the district 
committee had acted as a committee of credentials as well, and had named 
delegates from 20 counties who were entitled to seats, leaving eight counties 
still to be heard from. This report was promptly adopted, and a few 
minutes later the platform was reported. It was about the usual style of 
platforms, except that it was bitter in its denunciation of Kindred and his 



720 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

followers, accusing them of corruption. Of course, it claimed to be the 
only original, blown in the bottle, "regular" convention. 

When it came to nominations, Halvor Steenerson, of Crookston, sent up 
Nelson's balloon; C. A. Oilman was inflated by Gov. Barto, while Graves 
was depicted in glowing colors by D. G. Cash, of Duluth. Gilman and 
Graves had been candidates on the theory that Nelson and Kindred would 
so divide the delegates as to make a third man a necessity. They had allied 
themselves to the Nelson wing in the hope that if it proved that Nelson 
could not obtain it, his strength would go to them. Gilman and Graves 
had antagonized Kindred as sharply as had Nelson, and when the district 
convention split their forces had no other recourse save adhering to the 
Nelson wing. As a consequence, it was nonsense to present their names at 
the tent convention as that crowd was overwhelmingly for Nelson. But 
they went through the motions and took an informal ballot, which stood: 
Nelson, 44; Graves, 7; Gilman, 10. The formal ballot gave it to Nelson by 
44 votes to 15 for the other two combined. Nelson responded with an 
acceptance speech which pledged his loyalty and "regularity" to the party, 
while insisting that the Kindred crowd represented everything which was 
bad, corrupt and "irregular." Gilman, Graves, H. L. Gordon, of ]\Iinne- 
apolis, and Albert SchefTer, of St. Paul, all made ratification meeting speech- 
es, and the Nelson campaign was launched. 

While all this was going on in the tent, the Kindred men were working 
right along with their convention at Bowman's hall. The temporary chair- 
man, Mr. Holmes, kept shouting while the Nelson men were leaving, that 
the only "regular" convention would be in that hall, but blood was up 
and no one halted. When the Nelson supporters had vanished the Kindred 
convention went ahead more harmoniously, if anything, than the tent afifair 
because they did not have any other candidate than Kindred, even nominally. 
Geo. H. Johnston, the chairman of the district committee, was made perma- 
nent chairman. Johnston's speech on taking the chair was something unique. 
He declared that he had been a supporter of Nelson and had prepared a 
speech in his favor. He then proceeded with quite an eulogy of Nelson as 
a soldier and citizen, but now that Nelson had "bolted," as the speaker 
claimed, his party loyalty compelled him to stand by Kindred. That was 
cool, as he had been for Kindred all of the time. He then proceeded to 
claim that he had prepared to so rule as to admit 36 Kindred delegates 
and 42 for the field against him, and that Comstock and Barto had origi- 
nally agreed to this, but had finally attempted to depose him from the 
chairmanship of the committee, because he would not consent to have 
the committee pass upon the credentials of the delegates, and actually 
name those entitled to seats. 

Of course it took but a few minutes to have the committee on credentials 
report the Kindred delegates as contestants and all were admitted, and if 
any delegation was not full a proxy was supplied. The resolutions did not 
even take the trouble to declare loyalty to the Republican party, as the 
Nelson platform did. They were entirely devoted to claiming "regularity" 
and denouncing the other side as "dishonorable, despicable and most in- 
famous." C. B. Sleeper, of Brainerd, named Kindred in a glowing speech, 



A Pionkp;r History of Becke;r County. 721 

and no other name was presented. The roll call gave him 64 votes — all that 
were cast. Here were 64 votes in a convention which if full would have had 
78. Nelson had 61 in his convention, which gave an aggregate of 125, or a 
surplus of 47 more than there would have been if only one convention had 
been held. Kindred was brought in and accepted, deprecating the trouble 
and the bringing in of the nationality question. 

The evening in that little town was quite a wild one. Kindred had brought 
two or three brass bands, and they headed a procession which marched about 
the streets yelling like madmen. In fact, they were very mad men. In order 
to turn an honest penny the ladies of Detroit had opened a hall to give re- 
freshments for the benefit of the village cemetery association. Kindred felt so 
good that he gave $100 outright to the association, and the boys on his side 
said that they wanted to finish up the cemetery to have a proper place for 
Nelson when they got through with him in the fall. As Kindred furnished 
the political corpse in November, he was wise in dedicating a cemetery at 
the beginning of the campaign. 

There were hot discussions between the partisans until the trains left, 
but no absolute violence, though the air was frequently split with yells and 
emphatic adjectives. 

The question of which was the "regular" convention was the great con- 
troversy throughout the campaign. It was very hard to ascertain the truth, 
for both Nelson and Kindred men had resorted to all kinds of tricks known 
to the political trade to capture delegates. I am inclined to think, outside 
of leaving the hall at Detroit where the convention was called to meet. 
Nelson had the best of the "regularity," but with that thrown in Kindred's 
favor, it gave him the "regular" advantage. In 1868 almost the entire excuse 
for calling Donnelly a bolter was because he was nominated for Congress 
at a different place from the hall designated in the call. The only way the 
Nelson men could have been more regular was to have remained and had a 
fight, but as a stray bullet might have hit a newspaper man I was always 
willing to waive the irregularity of their departure from the hall. As the 
Kindred men. by the coup d'etat of getting possession of the hall at an 
early hour, had two to one on the inside of the building, they could have 
thrown the Nelson men out bodily, and that would have made it "regular" 
for them to have gone to another place for their convention, on the ground 
that they had been physically assaulted. I give this as a legal ruling on 
political regularity and as an inducement to bring on a fight, if such a con- 
dition of affairs ever exists again. The Republican state committee sat in 
judgment on the "regularity" and decided that Nelson was the "regular" 
nominee. How circumstances alter cases and how worthless such decisions 
are was illustrated by the decision against Donnelly in 1868 (which I have 
already noted) for doing exactly what was approved in Nelson's case in 1882. 

Next to the "regularity" problem, the point to be settled, was what 
would the Democrats do? The Nelson men did not feel that they had 
much hope from the Democratic votes, and were anxious to have a Demo- 
crat nominated. The Kindred men thought they could secure a good many 
Democrats, and were equally anxious to have no Democratic nominee. It 
seemed almost certain that without a Democratic nominee, Nelson would 



y22 A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 

be defeated. The Democrats at first seemed inclined to give Kindred the 
chance, but they finally held a convention, Sept. 7, at Fergus Falls. E. P. 
Barnum, of Stearns County, Robert Miller, of Otter Tail, and R. C. Moore, 
of Stearns, were candidates. There was no excitement at the convention, 
and the attendance was not large. One ballot did the business, standing: 
Barnum, 49; Miller, 18; Moore, 19; scattering, 10. Strenuous efforts were 
made by the Kindred people to get Barnum to withdraw. All of these 
efiforts (and some of them were very liberal) were unavailing, and Barnum 
remained his party standard bearer, though certain of defeat. 

The canvass was intensely personal and exciting. Kindred spent money 
lavishly and the Nelson forces had a good deal. Kindred had workers in 
every county, doing nothing else from the time he was nominated, in July, 
until November. In many cases where newspapers were hostile he es- 
tablished new ones. His army of clerks and his literary bureau were ex- 
pensive. Brass bands, torchlight processions, special trains, etc., were the 
common occurrence, and when you come to spread this out over 28 big 
counties, many of them having to be canvassed by private conveyance to 
make up the poll of the district, the expense amounted to something enor- 
mous. Well informed men claimed at the time that Kindred expended $225,- 
000. This may be too large, but I think it is extremely conservative to say 
that he put in $150,000. Minnesota is not likely to see the counterpart of 
that fight again. Mr. Kindred is now a resident of Philadelphia. I hear 
he has been lucky in some speculations and has largely, perhaps entirely, 
recovered his fortune, which was so sadly shattered by that campaign. He 
was the most liberal and energetic political plunger the state has ever seen. 
The vote in November, electing Nelson, stood: Nelson, 16,956; Kindred, 
12,238; Barnum, 6,248. Two years before, in the presidential campaign, 
which always brings out the vote, those same counties gave Garfield (Rep.) 
15,442. and Hancock (Dem.) 8,405. In 1881, just one year previous, the 
Republican vote in the district for governor was 13,831 and 6,595 Demo- 
cratic. This shows that Barnum was strong with the Democrats and held 
well up to his party vote, but the Republicans exceeded their presidential 
vote of 1880 by nearly 14,000, and their gubernatorial vote of 1881, the 
previous year, by nearly 16,000. As Barnum only fell behind Hancock's 
vote about 2,000, and was only 347 below the Democratic vote of '81, the 
great influx of voters must have been Republicans. In John Hay's famous 
poem, "Little Breeches," he tells of a little boy being transported from the 
embrace of the deadly winter storms to the warm sheep fold, and says: 
"How did he get thar? Angels." 
I am inclined to attribute the sudden irruption of Republican voters in 
that district to the same divine agency and let it stand at that. But no one 
disputes that Knute Nelson's original election to Congress was a wave from 
the North sea. We used to sing, "In the North sea lived a whale." Things 
have changed. He seems to have migrated to Minnesota and brought his 
whole family. 



A Pion^e;r History of Becker County. 723 



Chapter LVI. 



BUILDING THE COURT-HOUSE AND JAIL. 

After the final and permanent location of the county seat at 
Detroit, as decided at the general election in 1877, the township 
of Detroit, according to a previous agreement, paid the rent annu- 
ally for a building for the use of the county officers, which was 
the structure now owned and occupied by G. C. Nunn, a part of 
which is now occupied by him as a harness shop and store. There 
was a strong wish on the part of the people living north, east and 
south from Detroit, and more particularly on the part of the people 
living in that village, to clinch the location of the county seat by 
building a court-house and jail at that place. 

Accordingly at the session of the legislature of 1883 a bill was 
worked through that body, and duly signed by the governor, au- 
thorizing the commissioners of Becker County to issue bonds to 
build a court-house and jail, subject to a vote of the people at the 
ensuing annual election. The measure, however, was voted down 
by a decisive majority, the two western tiers of townships except- 
ing Lake Eunice voting nearly solid against it. 

For sometime previous to 1884, three out of five of the county 
commissioners had been elected from the western townships, and 
were strongly opposed to expending any money at the county seat 
under any circumstances. The commissioner districts as then con- 
structed were : First district, Richwood, Erie, Burlington and all 
territory lying east of those three townships. Second district was 
made up of Detroit Township. 

The third district consisted of Audubon, Lake Eunice and 
Lake View. 

Fourth district. Lake Park and Cormorant. 

Fifth district, Hamden, Cuba, Atlanta and Walworth. 

In 1883 the board was made up of the following members : 
First district, T. W. Chilton ; second district, F. B. Chapin ; third 
district, T. W. Dunlap ; fourth district, Olof Bjornsted ; fifth dis- 
trict, Hans Ebeltoft. 

The last three named were unconditionally opposed to county 
buildinofs at Detroit. 



724 A Pione;e;r History of Becker County. 

At the election in November, 1883, there were two changes 
in the membership of the board, one of which at least was destined 
to have an important bearing on the near future history of Becker 
County in general and of Detroit in particular. In the second 
district E. G. Holmes was elected to succeed F. B. Chapin who 
was not a candidate for re-election, l^ut who was as much in favor 
of county buildings as Holmes himself. In the third district the 
election was very close, T. W. Dunlap being defeated by S. B. 
Dexter by the small margin of three votes. Dunlap afterwards 
claimed that I was the cause of his defeat, and I incurred his 
everlasting displeasure for the imaginary offense, but while I was 
innocent of the crime the election of Dexter was a godsend to 
the village of Detroit, for if he had not been elected it is doubtful 
if there would have been any county buildings at that place for 
several years to come. 

When the new board met in January, 1884, it had a majority 
that was ready and willing to do anything within the bounds of 
law and reason to secure the construction of county buildings. 

The new board was organized by electing E. G. Holmes as 
chairman, and he became the leading spirit of the board, and to 
him more than any one else is Becker Coimty indebted for its 
present county buildings. He was also loyally supported by both 
Dexter and Chilton. 

As soon as the new board had settled down to business. Holmes 
began ransacking the revised statutes of Minnesota for authority 
to build a court-house and jail, and finally hit upon Section 815, 
Chapter 8 of the Revised Statutes of 1878, which reads as follows: 

Each county organized for judicial purposes shall provide at the 
county seat a suitable court-house, and a suitable and sufficient jail, and 
fire-proof offices, and other necessary buildings, and keep the same in 
good repair. 

On the strength of the authority delegated by this brief para- 
graph in the laws of Minnesota, the board of county commissioners, 
at the instigation of Mr. Holmes on the 8th day of April, 1884, 
passed the following preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas; the statutes of the state provide that there shall be estab- 
lished, in every county, by the authority of the board of county commis- 
sioners and at the expense of the county, a jail for the safe keeping of 
prisoners, and Whereas; the County of Becker has no such jail building. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 725 

or other safe and proper place for the keeping of prisoners, and Whereas; 
the time has arrived when such place should be provided: 

Now, therefore be it Resolved; and it is hereby resolved. That we 
proceed to construct a building in the village of Detroit to be used for 
the purpose aforesaid; said building to cost a sum not to exceed $6,000, 
to be erected and placed upon a spot of ground to be designated by the 
board. 

And be it further Resolved; That for the purpose of raising the money 
required for the payment of the cost of said building, there shall be is- 
sued the bonds of the county, not to exceed the sum of $6,000; that such 
bonds shall bear interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum, pay- 
able semi-annually, in the city of New York, until paid." 

Holmes, Dexter and Chilton voted for the resolution and Ebel- 
toft and Bjornsted voted against them. The two latter gentlemen, 
however, were only carrying out the wishes of their constituents, 
as both the fourth and fifth commissioner districts were solidly 
opposed to the construction of county buildings. 

Soon after the passage of the above resolution the $6,000 jail 
bonds were signed by E. G. Holmes the chairman of the board, 
and by myself, the then county auditor, the bonds were placed on 
the market and sold, and the money placed in the county treasury. 
Before work on the jail was begun, however, the following reso- 
lution was adopted June 3rd, 1884: 

Whereas; the statutes of the state provide that each county organized 
for judicial purposes, shall provide at the county seat, a suitable court- 
house and: Whereas; the time has now arrived when such court-house 
should be provided: Now, therefore, be it resolved; that we proceed to 
construct a building in the village of Detroit, to be used for the pur- 
pose aforesaid, said building to cost a sum not to exceed $18,000, and if 
built in connection with the jail, then the combined cost of said court- 
house and jail shall not exceed the sum of $24,000, said court-house to 
be erected and placed upon a spot of gound selected for that purpose by 
the said board. 

There was not much outspoken opposition to the jail proposi- 
tion, but when the resolution was passed to build the cotirt-house 
a storm of protests came from Lake Park, and an injunction suit 
to enjoin the chairman of the board and the county auditor from 
signing the $18,000 court-house bonds was commenced at the in- 
stigation of Knute Stakke and others of Lake Park, while from 
Audubon, the place that had Ijeen the rival of Detroit for the 
county seat seven years before, there was but little opposition so 
far as I ever heard. A hearing in the matter of the injunction 



726 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

suit was had before Judge Brown at Little Falls, and the injunctittn 
was set aside, the judge deciding that the count}- commissioners 
had legal authority under the section and chapter quoted above, 
to construct county buildings as set forth in the resolutions by 
the board. 

The opposition from Lake Park came largely from the circum- 
stance that there had been an election held the year before, and 
that a majority of the voters of the county had voted against the 
proposition to erect county buildings, and they could not believe 
there was any law whereby the board could take action contrary 
to the expressed wishes of a majority of the voters of the countv. 

After the injunction was set aside, and the action of the county 
commissioners sustained by the courts, all opposition came to an 
end, and commissioners lijornsted and Ebeltoft worked in har- 
mony with the other members of the board. 

The foundation of the court-house and jail was built by T. J. 
Martin and Marcus Shaw in July, 1884, and the building was con- 
structed by A. A. Whittemore, the father of Drew and John Whit- 
temore and Mrs. G. C. Nunn. 

Owing to delay caused by the injunction suit and other mat- 
ters the building was not finished that year, but work was resumed 
early in the spring of 1885 and the building completed in May 
following and formally dedicated on the 30th day of that month. 

This was Decoration Da}', and the Detroit Rcco)-(i of June 6, 
1885, says: 

''But the day is not j-et over. Another event, and perliaps the most 
important ever known in Becker County is yet to take place — tlie dedica- 
tion of our new court-house." It is not known in whose fertile brain 
was first originated the plan tn have the court-house dedicated on Memo- 
rial Day, but the day was fixed and the following well-known gentlemen 
were appointed a committee, and the matter placed in their hands: John 
K. West, Ai Brooks, J. B. Carman, A. E. Bowling, M. V. B. Davis, W. 
J. Wood and C. W. Dix. 

The selection of Henry Way to deliver the principal address was 
especially fitting, he being one of the earliest pioneers of the Northwest, 
and one of the first white settlers in Becker County, and a continuous 
resident ever since. 

Paul Beaulieu of White Earth spoke with pride of the red man's 
blood that coursed through his veins and gave an early picture of our 
county, claiming to be the first resident living here as early as 1854. 



A PioNKKR History of Becker County. 727 

The steel cage and cells of the jail were made in Milwaukee 
and were included in the $24,000, the total cost of the court-house 
and jail. 

The furniture, desks, etc., were bought of Luger Brothers, of 
Fargo, at a cost of $2,600, and in addition to this amount the fur- 
ther sum of $800 was paid for heating apparatus, making the total 
cost, including the ground on which it was built, less than $28,000 ; 
as good a building as there is in the state of ^linnesota for the 
money it cost. 

The bonds issued for building the court-house and jail are now 
all paid off, and everybody, even at Audubon and Lake Park, is 
not only reconciled but well pleased with the final outcome, and 
the people generally all over the county are proud of their court- 
house and jail. 

Judge L. L. Baxter of Fergus Falls held the first term of court 
in the new court-house. 



728 A Pioneer History of Becker County, 



Chapter LVIL 



THE SEASONS. 

Thirty-five years have wrought many changes in the cHmate of 
Becker County, especially as it relates to the winter season. 

During the early seventies, and again during the early eighties 
a mild winter such as we now usually enjoy, was a rare exception. 

In the fall of 1870 there was no frost until the 13th of October. 
The first snow fell on the 20th of October which remained only 
a day and was followed by an open winter. 

The summer of 1871 was the dry est in the history of the 
county, except perhaps that of 1894. 

The four succeeding winters were long and hard, all of them 
setting in between the ist and the loth of November, with scarcely 
a thaw until the 5th of April, and the snow which was frequently 
between three and four feet in depth lingering until the middle of 
that month, and the ice holding in the lakes until the ist of May. 



The Winter of 1872-3. 
The worst storm of this winter of storms was the memorable 
/th of January storm, which for length and severity outranks any 
storm that has ever visited Becker County at any season of the 
year. It commenced about noon on the 7th of January, 1873, and 
raged for more than fifty hours, extending all over Minnesota 
and Dakota. When the storm began I was eating dinner at the 
house of Ole E. Bjorge, the father of Hon. Henry O. Bjorge, on 
Section 8, township of Lake Park. The forenoon had been mild 
and warm, so much so that the snow began to melt, while the wind 
was blowing gently from the southeast. After dinner I left the 
house and started for the railroad station at Lake Park. The 
wind was still from the southeast, but it increased in velocity to a 
gale, when all at once it whirled around to the northwest and came 
down over the prairies with the force of a tornado. It was all 
I could do to keep on my feet, and I was just barely able to get 
back to the house I had left a few minutes before. It also be- 
came intensely cold. The house was built in a small grove of oak 
timber and the roaring: of the wind anions: the trees was so loud 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 729 

that we could scarcely hear one another talk. Henry O. was) 
then only two years old and just beginning to talk a little Norsk. 
I remember that he and I kept pretty close to a little corner be- 
hind a cook stove during the storm. The next day after -noon, 
I strapped on my snow shoes and started for Lake Park, but as 
soon as I got away from the shelter of the grove, I found I could 
not stand up and I was obliged to go back to the house. I tried 
it again on the morning of the third day, but with the same result. 
After dinner the wind began to abate but was still blowing a gale, 
and I tried it a third time, this time with the wind nearly square 
in my back and the snow packed good and hard, I managed to 
reach the station. 

A passenger train had been detained there during all the storm 
in charge of George Dow. The first trio of conductors on the 
Northern Pacific Railroad were Captain Spaulding, George W. 
Sweetmen, and George Dow. Dow is still running a passenger 
train on the Winnipeg branch. The snow was now nearly three 
feet deep, a foot having fallen during the storm, but the extreme 
force of the wind had packed it down so hard that the next day 
I walked from Lake Park to Section 30 in the township of Atlanta 
and back over the prairies without snowshoes, a distance of eighteen 
miles. There were several other blizzards that winter nearly as 
severe as this one, but they were of comparatively short duration. 
There were no lives lost in Becker County although there were sev- 
eral narrow escapes. Stengrum Nelson and old John Sullivan, of 
Cuba came near perishing in the storm. Two men lost their lives 
in Clay County, and more than seventy lives were lost in Minne- 
sota during the big storm. After these four winters came four 
winters more of a mild character, especially the winter of 1877 and 
1878. The summer of 1877 w^as a very favorable one for crops, 
the temperature and moisture being all that could be asked for, 
resulting in a bountiful harvest. A few inches of snow fell early 
in November, but after a few days disappeared, when an Indian 
summer set in, which with very slight interruptions lasted all win- 
ter. Much of the time it scarcely froze at night, and plowing, with 
a few interruptions was carried on every month during the entire 
winter. Pansies were in blossom in the gardens and dooryards on 
Christmas day, and the prairies were bedecked with flowering an- 
emones on the 24th of March, and they had come to stay. The 
northwestern skies w^ere illuminated by prairie fires nearly every 



730 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



night, the grass in Atlanta and Walworth burning nearly the en- 
tire winter. 

We now come to a succession of long, hard winters, beginning 
with that of 1879 and '80, and ending with that of 1883 and "84. 
The winter of 1880 and '81 was exceptionally long and severe. A 
snow-storm began on the 15th of October, Avhich lasted for twen- 
ty-four hours, during which time the snow fell to the depth of 
fifteen inches. The street in the village of Detroit, on the south 
side of where Hotel Minnesota now stands was filled its whole 




SNOWSHOE. 



w^idth even with the tops of the board fences that stood on each 
side of the street. The worst of all was. the snow had come to 
stay, a large part of it remaining until the ver}- last of the ensu- 
ing April. 

1880 was the first year of the settlement of the Shell Prairie 
country, and many of the new settlers were caught in this October 
storm with no other shelter than their tents and wagon covers, and 
much suft'ering followed as a result of the storm. Snow fell later 
on to the depth of three and a half feet. It thawed a little early 
in April, then froze up again. I walked from Detroit up to the 



A PioNEiER History of Be;cker County. 731 

north end of Floyd Lake, a distance of five miles, on two feet of 
hard snow on the 20th day of April. This was the longest win- 
ter by nearly a month of any on record. 

During that winter I was engaged in examining the Northern 
Pacific Railroad land in the timbered country around the southern, 
eastern, and northern borders of the Shell Prairie country, sleeping 
in a tent at night, and walking on snowshoes during the day. 

The October snows had bent the tops of the young jack pines 
over and fastened them to the ground, in which position they re- 
mained, like so many arches, until the ensuing spring. Charlie 
Sturtevant was with me during this terrible winter. 

The winter of 1887 and 1888 set in on the 17th of November. 
The snow was deep and the weather cold and stormy. It was 
during this winter that nearly one hundred people froze to death 
in Dakota. Then came four very mild and short winters, fol- 
lowed by cold weather and deep snow in the winter of 1892 and "93. 
The next four winters were mild and comparatively short. 

The summers during this long series of years were generally 
favorable, up to that of 1894. This was the year of the disastrous 
Hinckley fire, and a year long to be remembered in Becker Coun- 
ty. Its numerous lakes and ponds, however, saved it from any 
widespread devastation. 

The winter of 1896 and '97 was long and cold, and a greater 
depth of snow fell than during any other winter in the history 
of the county. 

On the first of March it lay in the woods four and a half feet 
deep on the level. It began to thaw on the iSth of March and 
in ten days it had about all disappeared. This was the spring of 
high water and disastrous floods on the Red River of the North, 
and the lower Mississippi. 

Since that time our winters have been very mild, with about a 
foot of snow, except in the winter of 1903 and '04, which was 
pretty cold. The winter of 1906 and '07, however, is liable to break 
all records. 

The earliest snowfall on record was that of 1872, when four 
or more inches of snow fell, beginning on the night of the 24th 
of September and again on the 27th of September, 1899, there 
was a light fall of snow. The summers of 1904, 1905 and 1906 
were exceedinglv wet. 



7Z^ 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



Chapter LVIIL 



OLD SOLDIERS. 



List of soldiers of the Civil 
War, who are living, or who have 
lived in Becker County: 

Names Residence 

Abbey, Joseph H. .Height of Land 

Adanis, Isael 

Aitkin, Rodger White Earth 

Anderson, Andrew Richwood 

Anderson, John Hamden 

Anderson, John Detroit 

Anderson, Nels Hamden 

Anderson, Swan Detroit 

Atchinson, R. R Detroit 

Augenson, Neri Richwood 

Averill, L. P Lake Eunice 

Backman, Charles O Detroit 

Ball, William F Detroit 

Baker, Newell Grand Park 

Ballard, William ..Height of Land 

Bancroft, M. M Detroit 

Barnes, Frank Detroit 

Beaulicu, Charles H.. White Earth 
Beaulieu, Henry ....White Earth 

Beaulieu, John White Earth 

Beaver, John F Audubon 

Beighley. Leonard R.... Height of 
Land. 

Bellamy, A. L Burlington 

Belland, Edward White Earth 

Bellcourt, Eustache. . .White Earth 

Bestick, James T Detroit 

Blake, William Lake Eunice 

Blanchard, Alfred. .. .Spruce Grove 

Blossom, Ferdinand Detroit 

Blue, Etienne White Earth 

Boe, Ole A Hamden 

Bolangier, Charles White Earth 

Bonnell. J. W Detroit 

Bonnell, Octavius Detroit 

Boss, Andrew J Detroit 

Bottineau, — . — Richwood 

Bowman, Horace A Detroit 



Brackett, George L...Lake Eunice 

Bradley, W. M Osage 

Brandt, John Cormorant 

Brigham, Edmund Burlington 

Brigham, James Burlington 

Brown, Frank G Detroit 

Brown, John White Earth 

Brown, Dr. J. W Lake View 

Bryngelson, Andrew P... Richwood 

Bullock, L. E Osage 

Bullock, C. E Carsonville 

Burlingame, James Osage 

Cain, Thos Detroit 

Carson, Robert Detroit 

Cassamer, T. F Detroit 

Chadwick, Joseph Burlington 

Chapin, Frank B Detroit 

Charette, Joseph White Earth 

Charette, Louis White Earth 

Choate, Francis C Detroit 

Churchill, Charles E.. .. Burlington 

Clason, Dewit Osage 

C'ayton, George W. ...Burlington 

Clement. Charles A Detroit 

Clark, Amos Burlington 

Clifford, C. H Spruce Grove 

Clyde, W. J Holmesville 

Cole, Noble Carsonville 

Collins, Luke Richwood 

Collins. I. J Burlington 

Colburn, Andrew S. ...Lake View 

Comaford, Julius M Richwood 

Combs, B. B Detroit 

Converse, M. S Detroit 

Cook, Charles H Toad Lake 

Cook, Homer Detroit 

Cooke, H. E Audubon 

Cook, John Audubon 

Cool. B. H Two Inlets 

Coon, William J Richwood 

Corris, Thos. L Lake Park 

Cressey, R. W Detroit 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 



733 



Crowell, H. C Carsonville 

Crummett, John O Detroit 

Culp, Cornelius . . . .■ Detroit 

Curry, Carlton Detroit 

Curtis, George Spruce Grove 

Curtis, Henry W Evergreen 

Daniels, Jerome Cuba 

Davis, Melville H Detroit 

Davis, John A Cormorant 

Day, Calvin K Detroit 

Densmore, Jacob Detroit 

Dewitt, Albert Lake View 

Dexter, Samuel B. ...Lake Eunice 

Douglas, T. L. Lake View 

Doell, Charles Detroit 

Doris, Francis White Earth 

Drew, Walter Audubon 

Duford. John B White Earth 

Dugan, Patrick Lake View 

Eastley, George W. (Mexican War) 

Detroit 

Edwards, Charles S Osage 

Edwards, George H. ...Lake View 

Eils, jMandon Erie 

Eggers, Henry ....Height of Land 

Emuleth, Charles Lake Eunice 

Entgelmeier, Chris. Height of Land 

Erno, John Burlington 

Evans, Edward Carsonville 

Fairbanks, Albert ....White Earth 

Farnsworth, A. J Detroit 

Farnsworth, George Detroit 

Fingelson, Fingal Richwood 

Forbes, Sherman Lake View 

Foster, Charles White Earth 

Foster, Henry White Earth 

Fox, Robert White Earth 

Frazier, Elijah S Osage 

French, John O Detroit 

French, William H Detroit 

Fryer, Arby Cormorant 

Gardner, George Pine Point 

Gaylord, George H Two Inlets 

Gerry. Martin H Lake View 

Gillion, John Osage 

Glaum, Anton Lake Eunice 

Goodrich, George Lake Park 

Goodwin, Lucien S Detroit 



Graham, John Burlington 

Grant, George W Lake Eunice 

Grant, Samuel Erie 

Greenlaw, Charles W. ... Carsonville 

Griftin, E Detroit 

Gritt, E Silver Leaf 

Gruver, Josiah Cormorant 

Gulbranson, John Audubon 

Gurley, Benjamin Detroit 

Gurley, Walter Detroit 

Halgren, S. A Cormorant 

Hall, J. Ransom Detroit 

Hall, Palmer Lake Park 

Hanks, John White Earth 

Harding, Hiram Detroit 

Hannah, Miles Erie 

Hanson, Hans Lake Park 

Harpster, Jacob Audubon 

Haslett, Hiram H Detroit 

Hauge, L. H Atlanta 

Hawley, Miles L Audubon 

Hazleton, William G. ...Richwood 

Heald, Dewit C Detroit 

Herbert, Charles E Detroit 

Herrick, George Erie 

Herrick, Warren Erie 

Higbie, Abraham Walworth 

Higbie, James Walworth 

Higley, Francis M Lake Park 

Hillyer, Philetus B Detroit 

Hildreth, W. H Detroit 

Hoffman, William Burlington 

Hogan, John Detroit 

Holmes, Charles Detroit 

Holmes. E. G Detroit 

Holmes, Joseph H Detroit 

Holyoke, Eugene Lake View 

Horton, John W Detroit 

Horton, Warren Lake Eunice 

Howard, Asa Osage 

Howard, Charles Detroit 

Howe, W. H. H Detroit 

Hoyle, Barlow Lake Eunice 

Hubbard, Isaac N Detroit 

Hubbard, N. K .\udubon 

Huck, Richard Erie 

Hughes, Michael Cormorant 

Hunter, John Holmesville 



734 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County 



Huntosh, Charles Burlington 

Huss, Louis Two Inlets 

Idell, Lewis Lake Park 

Irish, David L Atlanta 

Irish, William Audubon 

Jacobs, Frank Detroit 

Jarvis, D. O Height of Land 

Jellum, Ellef N Hamden 

Jenson, Simon Audubon 

Jepson, George E Detroit 

Johnson, Edgar M Detroit 

Johnson, Festus Detroit 

Johnson, George White Earth 

Johnson, John A Cormorant 

Johnston, George H Detroit 

Jorden, E. L Detroit 

Joy, S. S Detroit 

Justus, Daniel Cormorant 

Keith, David Lake View 

Kimpton, Ezekiel Richwood 

King, I. N Lake Park 

King, James J\I Burlington 

Lachapelle, Gabriel ...White Earth 

Lamb. William Burlington 

Lambert, Oliver C. .Height of Land 
Lamphier, Charles H. ..Evergreen 

Larson, Lars A Hamden 

Lirson, Ole Detroit 

Lawrence, George Detroit 

Legos, Benjamin White Earth 

Leperd, Jacob Burlington 

Lewis, Marshall J Lake View 

Liddy, Patrick E Cormorant 

Lindo, Charles Burlington 

Lindo, William Burlington 

Lovely, Danford White Earth 

Louden. Alexander Detroit 

Lucas, Thomas Grand Park 

Lukenbill. J. C Burlington 

Malone. James Osage 

Maltby. Dexter J Detroit 

Martin, Edward L Burlington 

Martin, George J Lake View 

Martin, Peter White Earth 

Martin, Thomas F Lake Eunice 

Mason, Charles White Earth 

Mason, Ira W Toad Lake 



]Mason, James Grand Park- 
Mayer, Clemens Burlington 

McDonald, John White Earth 

McDougal, Duncan . .White Earth 
McDonald, Malcolm ....Audubon 
jMcDonough, William ..Lake View 

McDowell, W. P Detroit 

I\tcDonough, Peter ....Lake View 

^IcGrew, James G Audubon 

McKay, Robert G Detroit 

McKenzie, James Detroit 

McKinley, George Osage 

McKinley, Seymour Osage 

McKinley, Squire S Osage 

McLeod, William W. ..Cormorant 
McVicker, Alexander ..Lake View 

Miller, Fred Cormorant 

Miller, Henry Detroit 

Miller, Robert Holmesville 

]\Ioore, John G Carsonville 

Moore, John Height of Land 

Morrison, Daniel R Osage 

Morton, W. R Detroit 

Nelson, Andrew Cormorant 

Nelson, Ole E Detroit 

Newell, Jason L Osage 

Nichols, M. V Detroit 

Noble Samuel Audubon 

Oliver Edward, ISIexican War 

White Earth 

Olson, John Detroit 

Olson, Peter E Cuba 

O'Neil, John Two Inlets 

Page, Charles Lake View 

Parker, George A Detroit 

Parker, Peter Pine Point 

Parmenter, O. S Holmesville 

Pattison, Murdock ....Cormorant 

Peake, E. S Detroit 

Peake, George White Earth 

Peake, Giles Detroit 

Phelps, Luther Osage 

Phillips, J. B Holmesville 

Phillips, L. D Detroit 

Piatt, Wash Detroit 

Plummer. Charles B. ...Lake Park 
Poe, V. D Shell Lake 



A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 



735 



Pollard, William Holmesville 

Pratt, I. C Detroit 

Pullman, C. G Lake View 

Quincy, Charles O Detroit 

Ranck, Louis C Detroit 

Rand, Charles W Detroit 

Randall, William Burlington 

Raymond, J. W Audubon 

Reese, Edward White Earth 

Rice, Aaron P Lake View 

Richardson, Josiah Detroit 

Robbins, Gideon Cormorant 

Roberts, George A Burlington 

Roberts, William C Detroit 

Rogers. Charles C Detroit 

Ross, George N Detroit 

Rossman, William W Detroit 

Roy, Frank White Earth 

Rumery, Ezra Detroit 

Russell, E. M Erie 

Salg, Nathaniel Grand Park 

Sanderson, Detroit 

Sargent, George M Detroit 

Seaman, George N Detroit 

Schisco, Elizur Richwood 

Schooler, Benj. C Holmesville 

Seebold, C W Hamden 

Shabeneau, Joseph Lake Eunice 

Sharp, T. M Osage 

Sheehan, Timothy ....White Earth 
Sherman, Carolus B. ..Lake View 

Shields, Joseph W 

Simons, Rolland Lake Park 

Small, Alfred Detroit 

Smart, Albert I Detroit 

Smith, C. E Savannah 

Smith, Charles M Cuba 

Smith, Walter Lake View 

Snyder, John Erie 

Snyder, John Carsonville 

Snyder, William H Erie 

Soper, Charles Grand Park 

Spears, George W. ...Lake Eunice 

Staigg, Alfred Detroit 

Stearns, C. W Lake View 

Stevens, J. B Lake View 

Stevenson, L. G Lake Eunice 

Stewart, John P Detroit 

Stickney, Sylvester G Detroit 



Still, Daniel Detroit 

Sturtevant, Charles H. .Lake View 
Sturtevant, Lemuel. War of 1812. 

Detroit 

Swan, Thomas White Earth 

Swetland, A. G Lake Eunice 

Teague, Theodore P Detroit 

Tebeau, Frank White Earth 

Teezer, (Indian) Pine Point 

Thayer, Charles P Detroit 

Thompson, Louis Audubon 

Tibbils, Edgar Burlington 

Torgerson, Thomas Cuba 

Trotochaud, Peter Pine Point 

Tubbs. S. C Detroit 

Utley, Stephen Detroit 

Vanwert, James White Earth 

Vose, Elisha Detroit 

Vose, George Detroit 

Wagner, Ernst Detroit 

Waite, Simon Grand Park 

Walker, James A Detroit 

Wall, P. P Audubon 

Wall, O. G Audubon 

Warren, Thomas White Earth 

Weaver, Anthony Burlington 

Weaver, Charles ....White Earth 

Webster, Daniel Lake View 

Wee, Andrew O Cuba 

Weller, George Lake View 

Wells, Soloman Burlington 

Wentworth, A. H Holmesville 

Weston, Henry Lake View 

Whalen, Patrick Detroit 

Wheaton, S. V Osage 

White, William White Earth 

Whipple, Charles H Detroit 

Whitney, Samuel Detroit 

Wilkins, William A Hamden 

Wilkins, Walter W Hamden 

Wilson, Charles M Atlanta 

Wilson, George Detroit 

Wood, Horace Burlington 

Wood, J. E Detroit 

Wood, William H Detroit 

Woods, F. L Lake View 

Woodworth, R. L Detroit 

Wright, Edwin L Burlington 

Zachariason, Ashborn ..Lake Park 



"JT^G A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Army Nurses. 

The army nurses who have made their homes in Becker County 
are : Dr. Emma K. Ogden, Detroit ; Mrs. Alexander McVicker, 
Lake View ; Mrs. E. L. Wright, Burhngton. 

Miss Ogden appHed to Miss Dorothy Dix for a position as army 
nurse in 1863 and was directed by her to Dr. James King, the 
division surgeon of the Pennsylvania troops, then stationed in Vir- 
ginia, and she served under him as army nurse in a sanitary camp 
during the remainder of the war. 

]\Irs. McVicker died on the 3rd of March, 1893, and Mrs. 
Wright died previous to that time. 



Chapter LIX. 



LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM 
BECKER COUNTY AND COUNTY OFFICERS. 

STATE SENATORS. 

Names. Session. Residence. 

E. G. Holmes, from the first Monday in January, 1889, to 

January, 1891 Detroit. 

J. H. Smith, from the first Monday in January, 1895, to the 

first Monday in January, 1903 Detroit. 

REPRESENTATIVES IN THE LEGISLATURE. 

Names. Session of Residence. 

L. S. Cravath 1872 Hamden. 

R. L. Frazee 1875 Burlington. 

Theodore Holton 1878 Cuba. 

T. K. Torgerson 1883 Cuba. 

E. J. Moore 1891 Osage. 

E. J. Moore 1893 Osage. 

J. H. Smith 1893 Detroit. 

A. H. Wilcox 1901 Burlington. 

T. C. Hawley 1903 Cuba 

Henry O. Bjorge 1905 Lake Park. 

Henry O. Bjorge 1907 Lake Park. 

The following is a list of County Officers from the organization of 
the County to 1907: 

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 
Names. Years. Residence. 

John Cromb, March ist, 1871, to January 2nd, 1872... Lake Park. 
John F. Beaver, ]\Iarch ist, 1871. to January 2nd, 1872. .Audubon. 
Chris. Gardner, March ist. 1871, died in office Burlington. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. ']:i;] 

Names. Years. Residence. 

William G. Woodworth, August 15th, 1871, to January 

2nd, 1872 Detroit. 

W. H. H. Howe, Jan. 2nd, 1872, to Jan. 6th. 1874 Detroit. 

L. G. Stevenson, Jan. 2nd, 1872, to Jan. 7th, 1873 Lake Eunice. 

A. J. Haney, Elected in 1871, but did not qualify Richwood. 

J. E. Van Gorden, March 12th, 1872, to Jan. 7th, 1873. .. Richwood. 

W. A. Wilkins, Jan. 7th, 1873, to Jan. 5th, 1875 Hamden. 

W. S. Dixon, Jan. 7th, 1873, to Jan. 4th, 1876 Lake Park. 

C. P. Wilcox, Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. 2nd, 1877 Detroit. 

Thomas Torgerson, Jan. 5th, 1875, to Jan. ist, 1878. .. .Cuba. 

L. W. Pederson, Jan. 4th, 1876, to Jan. 7th, 1879 Lake Park. 

J. H. Sutherland, Jan. 2nd, 1877, to Jan. 3rd, 1882 Detroit. 

A. S. Blowers, Jan. ist, 1878, to Jan. 6th, 1881 Richwood. 

Jens P. Foss, Jan. 7th, 1879, to Jan. 3rd, 1882 Lake Park. 

Hans Ebeltoft, Jan. 6th, 1881, to Jan. 6th, 1885 Hamden. 

T. W. Dunlap, Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. ist, 1884 Audubon. 

Olavus Bjornsted, Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. 6th, 1885 Lake Park. 

T. W. Chilton, Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. 4th, 1887 Burlington. 

F. B. Chapin. Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. ist, 1884 Detroit. 

E. G. Holmes, Jan. ist, 1884, to Jan. 7th, 1889 Detroit. 

S. B. Dexter, Jan. ist, 1884, to Jan. 7th, 1889 Lake View. 

E. N. Jellum, Jan. 6th, 1885, to Jan. 4th, 1887 Lake Park. 

T. C. Hawley, Jan. 6th, 1885, to Jan. 4th, 1887 Cuba. 

T. W. Dunlap, Jan. 4th, 1887, to Jan. 6th, 1891 .A.udubon. 

E. J. Moore, Jan. 4th, 1887, to Jan. 7th, 1889 Carsonville. 

L. H. Hauge, Jan. ist, 1887, to Jan. 5th, 1897 Atlanta. 

Henry R. Johnson, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 5th. 1897.... Lake View. 

S. S. McKinley, Jan. 7th, 1889. to Jan. 3rd, 1893 Osage. 

Alfred Meilie, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 5th, 1907 Erie. 

O. PL Aas, Jan. 6th, 1891, to Jan. 8th, 1895 Lake Park 

John Engstrom, Jan. 3rd, 1893, to Jan. 5th, 1897 Richwood. 

Erick P. Skaeim, Jan. 8th, 1895, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Audubon. 

Charles S. Palmer, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 3rd, 1905 Evergreen. 

Patrick O'Neil, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 8th, 1901 Burlington. 

Sivert Larson, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 8th, 1901 Hamden. 

Emanuel Berg, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. 8th, 1907 Lake Park. 

L. H. Hauge, Jan. 8th, 1901, to Jan. 3rd, 1905 Atlanta. 

Thomas J. Martin, Jan. 8th, 1901, to Jan. 3rd, 1905 Lake Eunice. 

Ralph W. Smith, Jan. 3rd, 1905, still in ofifice Cuba. 

Edwin Schram, Jan. 3rd, 1905, still in office Burlington. 

Charles Robinson, Jan. 3rd, 1905, still in office Osage. 

E. P. Skaeim, Jan. 8th, 1907, still in office Audubon. 

Everett W. Davis. Jan. 8th, 1907, still in office Detroit. 

COUNTY AUDITORS. 

David Pyle, June 27th, 1871, to March ist, 1872 Audubon. 

John Cromb, March ist, 1872, to Nov. loth, 1881 ■ Lake Park. 

A. H. Wilcox, Nov. loth, 1881, to Jan. 4th, 1887 Detroit. 



^2,^ A Pioneer History oe Becker County. 



Names. Years. Residence. 

W. R. Morton, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Detroit. 

L. M. Stevens, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 3rd, 1905 Detroit. 

Henry S. Dahlen, Jan. 3rd, 1905. still in office Detroit. 

COUNTY TREASURERS. 
Ole A. Boe, Sept. 30th, 1871, to the first Monday in 

March, 1876 Hamden. 

A. H. Wilcox, ist Monday in March, 1876, to Nov. 10, 

1881 Detroit. 

Melvin E. Dahl, Nov. loth, 1881, to Oct. ist, 1883, died 

in office. : Lake Park. 

Ole A. Boe, October 13th, 1883, to Jan. 20th, 1888 Hamden. 

T. W. Chilton, Jan. 20th, 1888, to Jan. 6th, 1891 Burlington. 

Michael Blewit, Jan. 6th, 1891, to Jan. 8th, 1895 Audubon. 

Charles A. Goodrich, Jan. 8th, 1895, to Jan. 5th, 1897. .Detroit. 

Charles F. Snell, Jan. 6th, 1897, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Detroit. 

Peter Glaum, Jan. 6th, 1903, still in office Lake Eunice. 

SHERIFFS. 
Charles E. Churchill, June 25th, 1871, to Jan. 7th, 1873. . Burlington. 

Peter Ebeltoft, elected in 1871, but did not qualify Lake Park. 

Lars A. Larson, Jan. 7th, 1873, to Jan. 6th, 1874 Hamden. 

Theodore Holton. Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. ist, 1878 Cuba. 

John Anderson, Jan. ist, 1878, to Jan. 6th, 1880 Richwood. 

J. H. Phinney, Jan. 6th, 1880. to Jan. 4th, 1887 Detroit. 

W. A. Norcross, Jan. 4th, 1887, to Jan. 7th, 1889 Detroit. 

J. H. Smith, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 5th, 1893 Detroit. 

G. J. Norby. Jan. 5th. 1893, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Lake Park. 

Ole C. Larson, Jan. 6th, 1903, still in office Hamden. 

KEC.ISTERS OF DEEDS. 
Archibald McArthur, June 25th, 1871, to Jan. 2nd, 1872. .Detroit. 

John McClelland. Jan. 2nd, 1872, to Jan. 6th, 1878 Lake Eunice. 

Hans Hanson, Jan. 6th, 1878, to Jan. 5th. 1897 Richwood. 

O. N. Noben, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Atlanta. 

Hans Hanson, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Detroit. 

Philip S. Converse, Jan. 6th, 1903, still in office Detroit. 

CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT. 
John O. Grummet, Aug. loth, 1871, to Jan. 2nd, 1872. . Detroit. 

John F. Beaver, Jan. 2nd, 1872, died in office .Audubon. 

Paul C. Sletten, Jan 6th, 1874, to Jan. 4th, 1876 Audubon. 

E. G. Holmes, Jan. 4th, 1876, to Jan. 6th, 1880 Detroit. 

W. J. Morrow, Jan. 6th, 1880, to Jan. 4th, 1887 Hamden. 

L. C. McKinstry, Jan. 4th, 1887, still in office Audubon. 

COUNTY ATTORNEYS. 
Josiah Delemeter, Jan. 2nd, 1872, to August 9th, 1872... Detroit. 
W. F. Ball, August 9th, to Jan. 6th. 1874 Detroit. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 739 

Names. Years. Residence. 

James G. McGrew, Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. 6th, 1878. .. .Audubon. 

O. L. Larson, Jan. ist, 1878, to Jan. 5th, 1882 Audubon. 

Walter Drew, Jan. 5th, 1882, to September ist, 1883. .Audubon. 
John T. Brown, October 13th, 1883, to Jan. 8th, 1884. .Detroit. 

O. L. Larson, Jan. 8th, 1884, to May 6th, 1884 Lake Park. 

S. J. Offord, May 6th, 1884, to Jan. 5th, 1885 Detroit. 

J. T. Brown, Jan. 5th, 1885, to Jan. 7th, i88g Detroit. 

Jeff H. Irish, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 5th, 1893 Detroit. 

C. M. Johnston, Jan. 5th, 1893, to Jan. 5th, 1897 Detroit. 

J. N. True, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Detroit. 

C. M. Johnston, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. 3rd, 1905 Detroit. 

Peter Schroeder, Jan. 3rd, 1905, still in office Burlington. 

JUDGES OF PROBATE. 

E. E. Abbot, elected in 1871, but did not serve Richwood. 

Josiah Delemeter, appointed in 1871, to Jan. 7th, 1873. .. .Detroit. 

B. O. Bergerson, Jan. 7th, 1873, to Jan. 5th, 1875 Cuba. 

Erick Anderson, Jan. 5th, 1875, to Jan. 7th, 1879 Cuba. 

J. H. Sutherland, Jan. 7th, 1879, to Jan. 5th, 1893 Detroit. 

James T. Bestick, Jan. 5th, 1893, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Detroit. 

W. W. Wilkins, Jan. 3rd, 1899, still in office Hamden. 

COUNTY SURVEYORS. 

A. H. Wilcox, Jan. 2nd, 1872, to Jan. 4th, 1876 Detroit. 

John Hunter, Jan. 4th, 1876, to Jan. 2nd, 1887 Holmesville. 

John Lee, Jan. 2nd, 1877, to Jan. 4th, 1883 Lake Park. 

Charles Sturtevant, Jan. 4th, 1883, to Jan. 7th, 1889 Detroit. 

C. J. Dewey, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 6th, 1891 Green Valley. 

Charles Sturtevant, Jan. 6th, 1891, to Jan. 5th, 1893 Detroit. 

W. R. Morton, Jan. sth, 1893, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Detroit. 

John Oss, Jan. 6th, 1903, still in office Atlanta. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS. 

F. B. Chapin, Feb. 6th, 1872, to Jan. 6th, 1874 Detroit. 

Walter Drew, Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. 6th, 1876 .A.udubon. 

Mrs. D. J. Maltby, May 5th, 1876, to Jan. ist. 1878 Detroit. 

Edmund Brigham, Jan. ist. 1878, to March 19th, 1878. . Burlington. 

G. L. Jones, March 19th, 1878, to Jan. 6th, 1885 Lake Eunice. 

F. B. Chapin, Jan. 6th, 1885, to Jan. Sth, 1895 Detroit. 

M. W. Vanderwater, Jan. 8th, 1895, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Two Inlets. 

Mary A. Hanson, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. Sth, 1907 Atlanta. 

Mrs. Caroline Auxer, Jan. Sth, 1907, still in office Burlington. 

CORONERS. 

David Pyle, elected in 1871, but did not qualify Audubon. 

W. J. Brown, appointed Feb. 6th, 1872, to June 6th, 1874. Lake View. 

D. J. Maltby, Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. 4th, 1876 Detroit. 

C. A. Lampanius, Jan. 4th, 1876, to Jan. 6th, iSSo Audubon. 

J. O. Fraushaug, Jan. 6th, 1880. to Jan. 5th, 1882 Lake Park. 



740 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

Names. Years. Residence. 

Hans Hanson, Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. 5th, 1897 Richwood. 

S. S. Jones, Jan. 5th, 1897, to Jan. 3rd, 1899 Burlington. 

W. R. Morton, Jan. 3rd, 1899, to Jan. 6th, 1903 Detroit. 

L. C. Weeks, Jan. 8th, 1903, still in office Detroit. 

COUNTY PHYSICIANS. 

E. E. Hoit, Jan. 1884 to Jan. 4th, 1887 Detroit. 

J. B. Carman, Jan. 4th. 1887, to Jan. 7th. 1889 Detroit. 

E. E. Hoit, Jan. 7th. 1889, to Jan. 7th, 1891 Detroit. 

J. B. Carman, Jan. 7th, 1891, to Jan. 7th, 1895 Detroit. 

E. E. Hoit, Jan. 7th, 1895, to Jan. 7th, 1903 Detroit. 

L. C. Weeks, Jan. 7th, 1903, to Jan. 7th, 1907 Detroit. 

Geo. W. Frasier, Jan. 8th, 1907; still in office Detroit. 

COURT COMMISSIONERS. 

Walter Drew, Jan. 6th, 1874, to Jan. 5th, 1875 .Audubon. 

A. S. McAllister, Jan. 5th, 1875, to August ist, 1877. .. .Detroit. 

F. B. Chapin, Jan. ist, 1878, to Jan. sth, 1881 Detroit. 

C. W. Dix, Jan. 5th, 1881, to July 29th, 1883 Detroit. 

W. W. Rossman, July 29th, 1883, to Jan. 8th. 1884 Detroit. 

George W. Taylor, Jan. 8th, 1884, to Nov. 28th. 1884. .Detroit. 

T. F. Cassimer, Nov. 28th, 1884, to Jan. 6th, 1891 Detroit. 

C. W. Dix, Nov. 6th, 1891, to Sept. 21st, 1895 Detroit. 

W. W. Rossman, Oct. 15th, 1896, to Sept. ist, 1904 Detroit. 

W. B. Carman, Sept. ist, 1904; still in office Detroit. 

ASSESSORS FOR BELTRAMI COUNTY. 

A. H. Wilcox, March, 1876, to January, 1882 

W. J. Morrow, Jan. 3rd, 1882, to Jan. 4th. 1884 

C. G. Sturtevant, Jan. ist, 1884, to Jan. 7th, 1889 

L. M. Stevens, Jan. 7th, 1889, to Jan. 1892 

Beltrami Cotintv was detaclied from Becker CountY, ATav 28th. 
1897. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

M. S. Converse held the ofifice of military storekeeper during 
both terms of Governor Nelson's administration as governor. 

Samuel H. Dahlen held the ofifice of committee room doorkeeper 
in the House of Representatives in the winter of 1894. 

He was also head doorkeeper of the House of Representatives 
during the sessions of 1901 and 1902. 

George Morrow was clerk in the state auditor's ofifice during the 
years 1905 and 1906. 

Walter W. Wilkins held the ofifice of doorkeeper in the State 
Senate during the session of 1895. 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 741 

J. H. Sutherland held the office of Indian Agent at White 
Earth during McKinley's first administration. 

T. K. Torgerson held the position of deputy in the office of 
the collector of internal revenue for the United States for the 
State of Minnesota during Cleveland's first administration. 

C. G. Sturtevant held the position of land examiner for the 
Northern Pacific Railroad Company during the year 1880, and 
held the same position for the Canadian Pacific Railroad during 
the years 1881 and 1882. 

C. J. Shaw held the same position for the same companies for 
the same vears. 



The following Becker County men have held the position of 
deputy United States marshal: E. L. Warren, Gus. H. Beaulieu, 
J. B. Hillier, Robert Morrison, Robert G. Beaulieu, M. S. Converse. 
Special Deputies : George Campbell, White Earth, a mixed-blood ; 
Charles Moulton, White Earth, a mixed-blood ; E. H. Fook, ^^'hite 
Earth, a white man. 



White Earth, Minn., Jan. 2, 1907. 
Dear Mr. Wilcox: 

You will please find herewith the names and occupation of a few 

of the White Earth boys who are now in good standing. I know they 
will all be very much pleased to have their names appear in your book. 
As to myself, will say that I was employed as deputy United States mar- 
shal for sixteen years, and later I held the very responsible position 
of chief estimator of Chippewa Indian lands in this state during the 
years 1903 and 1904. I had under my charge during that time twenty-four 
men. The work assigned me was to estimate all the pine timber, and 
classify all the agricultural lands embraced within the boundaries of the 
ceded Chippewa lands in Minnesota; and included in the Leech Lake. 
Cass Lake, White Oak Point, Winnibigoshish, Bois Fort, Deer Creek, Red 
Lake, Fond du Lac and Pigeon River Reservations. This piece of work 
I feel proud of for the reason that other corps of estimators that have 
from time to time been sent into the field by the government to estimate 
the Indian timber have been found on investigation to be very much 
against the best interests of our people. You perhaps know as much about 
those matters as I do. 

Henry W. Warren, was born on the White Earth Reservation ; 
is now employed as superintendent of the Government Indian 
school at Bena, Minn. ; is a graduate of the Carlisle Institute of 
Penn., and is also sub-agent of the Bena agency. 



742 A Pioneer History of Becker County. 

John Morrison, was born on the White Earth Reservation; is 
now employed as superintendent of the Government Indian school 
at Red Lake, and is also a graduate of the Carlisle Institute. 

Benjamin CaswEle was also born on the White Earth Reserva- 
tion, and is now employed as superintendent of the Government 
school at Cass Lake, and is also a graduate of Carlisle. 

Eugene J. Warren was also born on the White Earth Reserva- 
tion, and is now employed as disciplinarian of the Government 
school at White Earth, and is also a Carlisle graduate. 

John B. Warren was born on the White Earth Reservation, 
is a graduate of Carlisle ; was noted as one of the great football 
players of the University of Minnesota in years 1903 and 1904, and 
during that time was a university law student. He is also a 
graduate of the Normal School of Indiana, Pa. 

Allan L. Morrison is a White Earth boy ; I think that he is a 
graduate of the Haskell Government school. He is now employed 
as chief clerk at the White Earth agency, a position of responsi- 
bility. 

William F. Campbell is a graduate of the Carlisle Govern- 
ment school, also a graduate of State University Law School ; is 
nov/ practicing law at Manohmen, Minn. He is a White Earth 
boy, and has made his home there for many years. 

Dan. S. AIorrison is a White Earth boy also. He attended 
school at Carlisle, and is now employed as assistant clerk at the 
White Earth agency. 

Donald McDougall is a White Earth boy ; a graduate of the 
Haskell Institute of Nebraska, and is also employed as assistant 
clerk at the White Earth agency. 

Alex. McDougall is another W^hite Earth boy, a graduate of 
the Haskell School, and is also employed at the White Earth agency 
as assistant clerk, having been transferred here from the Leech 
Lake agency. 

William R. Spears is a White Earth boy ; is now in the Indian 
trade in which business he has been engaged for many years. He 
is a son of Mrs. Julia A. Spears. 

B. L. Fairbanks is another White Earth boy; is a prosperous 
Indian trader in which business he has been engaged for many 
years, both at White Earth and Red Lake Reservations. He sue- 



A Pioneer History of Becker County. 743 

ceeded to the business established by his father, George A. Fair- 
banks. 

Edward L. Warren. 



Besides the different persons whose names are appended to 
the various articles in this work I am under special obligations to 
Mr. L. C. McKinstry, of Detroit, for assistance in gathering informa- 
tion and for other help in the preparation of this work. 

Adios, 

A. H. Wilcox. 

THE END. 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Anderson, Brede, 582. 

Anderson, Christen, 372. 

Abbey, Capt. Joseph H., 473. 

Baarstad, A., 518. 

Baarstad, Mrs. A., 518. 

Badger, 116. 

Ball, Hon. W. F., 335. 

Barnard, Leroy D., 639. 

Beaulieu, Paul, 238, 

Beaver, 139. 

Becker, Gen. Geo. L., 14. 

Berg, O. I., 424. 

Bergerson, B. O., 508. 

Bittman, Mr. and Mrs. George, 694. 

Bjorge, Ole, 413. 

Boe, Ole A., 496. 

Bjorge, Christ E., 413. 

Bjorge, Hon. Henry O., 438. 

Boanece, 402. 

Bowker, Arra J., 318. 

Bowker, Mrs. Nellie, 318. 

Brown, Julius, 245. 

Butler, Nathan, 243. 

Canoe, 215. 

Caribou, 64. 

Chapin, F. B., 321. 

Chilton, Guy, 284. 

Chilton, James, 284. 

Chilton, Mrs. James G. 284, 

Chilton, William G., 281. 

Christenson, Iver, and family, 482. 

Churchill, Charles E., 281. 

Clifford, Mrs. Delia A., 667. 

Converse, M. S., 366. 

Cook, John, 386. 

Cook, Mrs. John, 386. 

Collins, I. J., 295. 

Cravath, Mrs. L. S., and daughter, 502. 

Cromb, John, 413. 

Crummett, Frank, 321. 

Cutler, Mrs Lois, 318. 

Dezell, Mr. and Mrs. James, 624. 

Dirkes, Rosa, 694. 

Elk, 60. 

Erickson, Daniel, 455. 

Erickson, Erick, 455. 

Erickson, Nels and family, 448. 

Erickson, Ole and family, 450. 

Evans, Edward, 645. 

Evans, Fred, 644. 

First Tax Receipt, facsimile, 570. 



Fox, Black, 92. 

Fox, Silver Gray, 90. 

Frazee, Hon. R. L., 306. 

French, John O., 319. 

Gould, Mr. and Mrs. Clayton, 316. 

Grangruth, Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm, 674. 

Halgren, C. M., 455. 

Halverson, Ole, 520. 

Hanson, Hans, 478. 

Hanson, Mrs. Hans, 478. 

Hanson, Miss Mary A., 591. 

Higbie, Albert E., 595. 

Holmes, Hon. E. G., 335. 

Holmes, Mrs. E. G., 335. 

Horr, B. F., 628. 

Horr, Mrs. B. F., 628. 

Hole-in-the-day, 238. 

Hought, Eber, 672. 

Jahr, Mr. and Mrs. O. J., 591. 

Jarvimaki, Andrew, 682. 

Jacobson, Peter, and family, 651. 

Johnson, Frank 'A., 321. 

Johnson, Mrs. John, 245. 

Jones, Katie, 646. 

Kittelson, Ole, 511. 

Knapp, Mrs. Elizabeth C, 688. 

Knutson, Erick, 455. 

Kuha, Mr. and Mrs. Paul, 674. 

Laite, Caroline, 511. 

Laite, Lars P., 511. 

Laite, Mrs. Lars P., 511. 

Larson, Lars, 518. 

Lowles, Mrs. Wesley, nee Frances Witter, 
639. 

Lynx, 77. 

McClelland, Mr. and Mrs. John, 457. 

Mckinley, Maj. S. S., 609. 

McKinstry, William P., 582. 

McLeod, W. W., 478. 

Map of Becker County, 11. 

Matson, Knut, and family, 452. 

Martin, Penn W., 692. 

Martin, Thomas J., and family, 466. 

Meilie, Alfred, 599. 

Modern Load of Logs, 709. 

Morrison, Allan, 266. 

Morrison, Wm., 226. 

Morrow, W. J., 383. 

Moose, 57. 

Nelson, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Nub, 591. 

Nelson, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Nub, 591. 



746 



Illustrations. 



Northup, Anson, 218. 

Nuener, Mr. and Mrs. George, 601. 

Old Settlers, group of, 370. 

Olson, Erick, 455. 

Olson, Martin, 509. 

Olson, Mrs. Martin, 509. 

Olson, Oleson, 516. 

Oleson, Peter E., 521. 

Oleson, Mrs. Peter E., 521. 

Olson, Severt, and family, 448. 

Otter, 112. 

Palmer, Chas. S., 663. 

Panther, 72. 

Pine Marten, 110. 

Qualey, Ole E., 478. 

Ramstad, Lars O, 496. 

Renwanz, Emma, 6. 

Rossman, Mr. and Mrs. W. W., 364. 

Sanderson, Mr. and Mrs. A. W., 609. 

Schultz, Lizzie, 601. 

Severtson, Mr. and Mrs. Peter, 446. 

Sherbrook, Mr. and Mrs. (Isabel), and 

family, 446. 
Sherman, Almon W., 316. 
Sherman, C. A., 316. 
Sherman, Mrs. Lois H., 318. 



Shepard, F. M., 677. 

Siegford, J. F., 608. 

Small, Capt. F. K., 386. 

Small, Mrs. F. K., 386. 

Snowshoe, 730. 

Spears, Mrs. Julia A., 245. 

Spencer, Charles E., 689. 

Taylor, Oliver, 413. 

Trieglaff, August, and family, 

Warren, Truman A., 238. 

Way, Henry, 316. 

Way, Mrs. Jane, 318. 

Wellman, Capt. D. L., 314. 

West, Mrs. Jessie C, 335. 

Weymouth, Mrs. Luther, 284. 

White Cloud, 238. 

Wilcox, Alvin H., frontispiece. 

Wilcox, A. II., 544. 

Wilcox, Mrs. A. H., 544. 

Wilcox, C. P., 580. 

Wilcox, Mrs. C. P., 544. 

Wilcox, Hosmer H., 581. 

Wilkins, Judge W. W., 505. 

Wolverine, 103. 

Wood, Rev. John E., 362. 



302. 



V 



INDEX. 



Abbey, Joseph H., 647, 653. 

Abbott, E. E., 490, 491, 492. 

Abstract of Title, Chapter XII, 200. 

Adams, John, 665. 

Adelaide or d'Engelbroner Farm, The, 526. 

Ah-zhe-day-si-shig, 248. 

Allen, Maj. R. M., U. S.Indian Agent, 258. 

Aloysius, Rev. Father, O. S. B., 258. 

American Fur Company, 45, 253. 

Anderson, Mrs. Brede, 372. 

Anderson, Buckley B., 373. 

Anderson, Christ, 222, 373. 

Anderson, Christen, 224. 

Anderson, Erick, 520. 

Anderson, Frank, 100. 

Anderson, Jedediah, 319. 

Anderson, John, 598. 

Antelope, The, 69. 

A Pathetic Chapter, by Robert McClelland, 

463. 
Ashley, Jessie, 312. 
Ashley, Leonard A., 281, 294, 311. 
Aspinwall, A. P., 277. 
Aspinwall, William D., 137, 277. 
Aspinwall, N. P., 277. 
Armour, Mr. and Mrs., 251. 
Army Nurses, 736. 
Artesian Wells, 507. 
Assessors for Beltrami County, 740. 
Astor, John Jacob, 229. 
Atlanta Township, History of. Chapter 

XXXIV, 592. 
Audubon (naturalist), 113, 114, 121, 135. 
Audubon Township, 223, 225. 

History of. Chapter XXII, 373. 

How it received its name, 379. 

Settlers in order of their arrival, 374. 
Audubon, \'illage of, 378. 

Journal, 91. 

"Treasury Depleting Trio," 404. 
Ault, T. M., 237. 
Austin, Pinney, 650. 
Austin, William, 283. 
Ay-gans, 230. 
Baarstad, Amund E., 523. 
Bajhinana, 89, 285, 287. 

Holds up Paul Sletten, 292. 

.Shooting of Gunder Carlson by, 384. 

Shooting of, by Patrick Quinlan, 293. 
Bachman (naturalist), 121. 
Badger, The American, 117. 



Bakken, Hans J., 524;' 
Bakki, Jacob, 638, 684. 
Ball, W. F., 88, 334. 

Bardwell, Mr., appointed Indian Agent, 251. 
Barnard, Mr. and Mrs. J. A., Pioneer Ex- 
perience of, 635. 
Bancroft, American historian, 195. 
Bardsley, Miss Jane, 454. 
Bartz, Ludwig, 650. 
Bardwell, Mr., blacksmith, 251. 
Bartrum, Jerry, and brother, 242. 
Bassett, Maj. J. B., 220, 239-43, 24^, 246, 248. 
Basswood, Old, 104, 107, 110, 212. 
Bats, 132. 

in Mammoth Cave, 132. 
Bates, Gen. John R., 75. 
Battle between Sioux and Chippewas, 212. 
Baxter, Judge L. L., 72?. 
Bean, James, 239. 
Beardsley, George G., 51. 
Bear, The Black, 96. 

Food of, 96. 
Bear, The Grizzly, 93. 
Bear Tooth Mountain, 67. 
Beaulieu, Bazil la., 257, 259, 260. 
Beaulieu, Clement H., 23, 54, 2o7, 258, 259. 
Beaulieu Family, 257. 
Beaulieu, Gus H., 55, 205, 207, 263. 
Beaulieu, Paul H., 221, 239,240, 241, 246,258. 
Beaulieu, Theodore H., 260, 261. 
Beaulieu, Truman, 256. 
Beaver, a scare, 143. 

description, 144. 

the Cub, 140. 

traits of, 142. 
Beaver, Halvor M., 510. 515. 
Beaver, J. F., 222, 225, 276, 373. 
Becker Co. Agricultural Society, 340. 

Approximate amount of Norway Pine 
growing in, 706. 

Botany of, 23, 26. 

Census of 1870, 223. 

County created, Chapter I, 9, 12. 

The first Lawsuit in, 582. 

County seat controversy, 584. 

County seat permanently located at De- 
troit, 723. 

First tax receipt, A. H. W'ilcox, 570. 

Five generations, first white women who 
settled in, 318. 

geology of. Chapter III, 17. 



748 



Indkx. 



Intercepted letter "Fraud! Extortion! 
Bankruptcy!", 588. 

Journal 85, 414. 

lakes and ponds of, 159. 

List of first jury in, 583. 

Map of, 11. 

^Members of the first Becker County jury, 
581. 

Members of the legislature from Becker 
County and County officers, 736. 

Naming County, incident, 13. 

Native wild plants, with botanical and 
common names, 27-30. 

Organization of, Chapter XIX, 275. 

Organization of first congregation in, 435. 

Petition of legal voters, Audubon, Jan. 31, 
1874. 587. 

Representatives in the Legislature, 736. 

Resolutions County Commissioners, Aug. 

24, 1875, regarding building Court-house 

and Jail, 724. 

Territory included, 9. 

veteran association, 468. 

Wild animals of. Chapter VII, 43. 

Wild Trees and Plants of 23, 
Becker, Gen. Geo. L., Chapter II, 15. 

Appointed to Board Railroad and Ware- 
house Commissioners, 16. 

Candidate for Governor, in 1894, 16. 

Delegate to National Democratic Con- 
vention, Charleston, 1860, 16. 

Election to Congress, 6. 

Letter from, 12. 
Beltrami County, 740. 
Bergerson, Sophia, 517. 
Bergerson, B. O., 510. 
Bergerson, Mrs. B. O., 509. 
Bestick, James T., 369. 
Beveridge, David, 222. 

Birds of Becker County, Minn., list of. 
Chapter VIII., 159. 

Disappearing and Game Birds, by D. W. 
Meeker, 186, 190. 

List of, 161-186. 

total number of species in Becker County, 
by Thos. S. Roberts, M. D., 160. 
Bismarck, 52. 
Bisson, Mrs. Margaret Beaulieu, (Mrs. 

Martin Bisson), 260. 
Bjorge, Christen E., 419, 428, 437, 543. 
Bjorge, Henry O., 423 435. 
Bjorge, Rev. K., 436. 
Bjorge, Ole E., 420. 
Bjornstad, Johannes, 426. 
Bjornstad, M., 426. 
Bjornstadt, Olaus, 427. 
Boanece, 251. 

and wife, 252. 

arrest of, 398, 399, 400. 
Bobolink, 251, 391. 



dived for his life, 395. 

the confession, 396. 
Bodle, Dr., 251. 
Boe, Ole A., 319. 

Bohne, Ewald, and wife Jennie, 664. 
Boll, Rudolph, 297, 660. 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 200, 204. 
Bonga, George, 239. 

Boston Natural History Proceedings, 120. 
Bottineau, Peter, 239. 
Bottineau, Pierre, half breed, 234, 239. 
Borup, Mrs. Gustave, 260. 
Boulders, niggerhead and limestone, 18. 
Bowling, A. E., 327. 
Bowman, Horace, 327. 
Brackett, Fred, 237. 
Brackett, Foster H., 160. 
Brackett, Geo. A., 234. 
Brackett, Geo. M. C, 237, 379. 
Brackett, U. S. Marshal, 391. 
Breck, Rev. Dr., 261. 
Brickmaking, 468. 
Briggs, Edward, 278. 
Brigham, Miss Nellie F., 285. 
Brigham, Sidney, 492. 
Britt, Geo. W., 465. 
Britt, Harry, 115. 
Britt, Miss Orlora, 458. 
Broadhead, W. F., 75, 176. 
Bross, Ex-Governor of Illinois, 42. 
Brower's History of Itasca State Park, 641. 
Brower, Hon. J. V., 21. 
Brown, Frank C, 661. 
Brown, Julius (Mamuckkawange), 248. 
Brownjohn, Rev. Geo. W., 411, 529. 
Buck, Sidney, 458. 
Buck, Simeon S., 456. 
Buel, ueorge, and Mrs., 660. 
Buffalo, The, 44. 

killed at White Earth, 54. 
lUiffalo River, 45. 

Catching Beaver, 140, 141. 
Building on Reservation, "265. 
Bullock, C. E., 224, 614, 627, 630. 
Bullock, Miss Mary A., 614. 
Burdick, Jackson, 373. 
Burfield, M., 665. 

Burger, L. D., 380, 381, 382, 398, 399. 
Burlington Township, History of, 222, 277. 
Butler, Nathan, 243. 
Cadotte, J. B., 256. 
Cadotte, Louis, 257. 
Cadotte, Mary, 253. 
Cadotte, Michel, Jr., 257. 
Cadotte, Michel, Sr., 253, 257. 
Callaway Township, organization of, by J. 

P. Ernster, 700. 
Campbell, C. M., 282. 
Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. C. W., 285. 
Campbell, Dugald, 447. 



Index. 



Campbell, Frank M., 224, 264, 277. 
Campbell, George M., 264. 
Campbell, Hugh, 492. 
Campbell, James, 608. 
Campbell, William F., 264, 742. 
Canfield, Thomas H., 434, 435, 442-5. 
Canoes, Birch Bark, and Canoe Travel, 
Chapter XIV, 216. 

How made, 216. 
Canon River Improvement Association, 209. 
Caribou, 65. 
Caribeau, Antoine, 140. 
Carlson, Filing, 557. 
Carlson, Gunder, 289, 418, 498, 557. 
Carson, Geo. M., 224, 610, 611, 613, 615, 617. 
Carson, Robert, 294. 
Carsonville Township — 

A Chapter of fatal accidents, 627. 

The first death in, Mr. Burnham, 639. 

History of. Chapter XXXIX, 623. 

Naming the town, 626. 

Natural Resources, 624. 

Organization, 625. 
Cassady, Thomas, 666. 
Casey, Mrs. Martin, 98. 
Caswell, Benjamin, 742. 

Catlin, George, American artist, 195, 257. 
Cartwright's, Captain, Journal, 106. 
Cavanagh, James M., 16. 
Chabrille, Charlotte Louisa, 267. 
Chapman, John, 651. 
Chapin, F. B., 217, 343. 
Chapin, Miss May (Mrs. John Whitte- 

more), 603. 
Childs, Deacon Samuel B., 320. 
Childs, Miss Nellie, 473. 
Chilton, Guy, 285. 

Chilton, James G., 280, 281, 285, 289, 298. 
Chilton, John, 283. 
Chilton, John R., 283. 
Chilton, John, Sr., 285. 
Chilton, T. W. 280, 281, 285, 289. 
Chilton, William, 280. 
Chilton, Wm G., 282, 298. 
Chilton, Wm. G., by George E. Tindall, 303. 
Chipmunk, The, 153. 

Chippewa Indians, The, Chapter XI, 196. 
Chittenden, Mr., head clerk and overseer, 

251. 
Christenson, Iver, 479-81, 486, 488, 490. 
Christenson, Ole, 519. 
Cliristian Soldier, 262. 
Churchill, Charles E., 280, 298, 566. 
Clason, De Witt, 633, 655. 
Clark, Edwin, 240. 
Clark, N. P., 299. 
Clerks of the District Court, 738. 
Clifford, Alfred H., 067. 
Clifford, C. H., 667. 
Clifford, Mr. and Mrs. C. H., 664. 



Clifford, Mrs. Delia A., 666, 668, 669. 

Clitheral, Maj. J. B., 271. 

Coburn, Chester, 563. 

Coffin, Charles Carleton, 41, 235, 317, 320. 

Cole, Edward, 679. 

Cole, Noble, 632. 

Colfax, Hon. Schuyler, 41, 503. 

Collins, I. J., 211. 

Collins, Mrs. I. J., 296. 

Collins, Irving John, 211, 2»3, 294, 298. 

Collins, Luke, 494. 

Commonwealth Lumber Co, 278, 307, 715. 

Common or White-tailed Deer, 65. 

Comstock, Miss Nancy M., 225. 

Convay, John, xnurder, 348. 

Converse, Philip S., 368. 

Converse, W. F., 369. 

Converse, Myla Seamans, 365, 740. 

Cook Family, The, by Albion Barnard, 387. 

Cook, Miss Hattie, i;o2. 

Cook, John, 555. 

Cook, Mrs. John, 250. 

Cook family murder, A painful scene, 395. 

Reminiscence of, by F. M. Higley, 438. 
Cook, Mrs. Minnie., 251. 
Cook, Prof. W. W.. 160. 
Corbett, Thomas, 474, 567. 
Cormorant Township, History of, Chapter 

XXIV, 447. 
Cormorant Township, 23, 205. 
Cormorant Lake, 22. 
Cornell, F. R. E., 400. 
Coroners, 739. 
Coues, Prof. Elliot, 44, 49, 105, 107, 110, 120, 

127, 130, 131, 256, 257. 
Country was first peopled. How, Chapter 

X, 195. 
County Attorneys, 738. 

Auditors, 737. 

Commissioners, 736. 

Physicians, 740. 

Superintendents of Schools, 739. 

Surveyors, 739. 

Treasurers, 738. 

Court Commissioners, 740. 
Court-house, Dedication of, 726. 
Court-house and Jail, The Building, Chap- 
ter LVI, 723. 
Coyote, peculiar ways and habits, 86. 
Cravath, L. S., 378, 500, 501. 
Crimes, 638. 

Crissy, Arthur, 298, 300. 
Cromb, John, 275, 555. 
Crummett, J. O., 340. 
Cruttenden, Hon, J. D., 12. 
Cuba Township, History of. Chapter XXIX 

510. 
Curry, Carton, 361. 
Cutler, Mrs. Lois., 331. 
Dahlen, Samuel 11., 740. 



/o 



=10 



Index. 



Dalton, Michael, 320. 
Darling, Wliitson S., 600. 
Daubenspeck, Mathias, 651. 
Davis, John, 649. 
Davis, M. V. B., 17, 327. 
Davis, Melville H., 5, 546, 563. 
Davis, W. E., 69. 
Day, Capt. C. D., 554. 
Day, Fred L., 596. 
Dead Lake, 213. 
Detroit, 276. 
How named, 341. 
First village election in, 347. 
First grain warehouse on Northern Pacific 

built, 344. 
First memorial service, 346. 
Record, 59, 68, 360, 361. 
extracts, 93, 258, 403, 336-40. 
Catching an opossum, 124. 
Otter Tail City, extracts from, 334. 
Savannah, 145. 

Brutal Murder near McHugh, 305. 
Burning of Village Jail, 588. 
Hungry bear scratches at farm-house 

door, 101. 
Plat of the old townsite of, 10. 
Seer of Minnesota's Venerable Pioneers 
is dead, 269. 
Roads, 341. 

School District No. 1, 342. 
The First Church in, 337. 
Detroit Township, 222. 

First general election in, 328. 
History of, by Mrs. Jessie C. West, 315. 
Organization of, 328. 
Pioneer Women, 327. 
and Village separation, 347. 
Detroit Lake and Pelican River Slack Wa- 
ter Navigation Company, 476. 
Detroit Lumber and Wood Company, Notice 

of Co-Partnership, 568. 
Detroit Lake, 23. 
Devereaux, M. L., 222. 
Dezell, James, 635, 640. 
Dezell, Mrs. Mary E., 623, 640. 
Diekmann, John August, 693. 
Disse, Fred, 600, 603. 
Disse, John Frederick, 605. 
Dix, Miss Cad, (Mrs. Arthur Blanding), 

603. 
Dix, Charles Woodman, 356. 
Dixon, W. S., 585, 586. 
Dokken, Ole C, 52o. 
Donald, George, 253. 
Doran, Tyree, 643. 
Dornbush, Jorgen, 669, 671. 
Dorsey, P. S., 689. 
Dow, Roscoe, 298. 
Dow, Wm. L., of Little Falls, 242. 
Dresser, Lieut., 401. 



Du Chaillu, Paul, 274. 

Dudley, Rev. C. H., Hamilton, 349. 

Early Reminiscences of Hamden, by Mrs. 

L. S. Cravath, 501. 
Eastman, Dr., 195. 
Ebeltoft, Hans, 500, 501, 507. 
Ebeltoft, Mr. and Mrs. Hans, 508. 
Ebeltoft, Peter, 501. 
Ebeltoft, Severt, 508. 
Educated Indian woman of Creek Nation 

and Filipinos, 195. 
Eischens, Max, 690. 
d'Engelbroner, M. E., 412. 
Engelstad, Bergitha J., 431. 
English, John, 255. 
English, Mrs. Mary, 255. 
Elk, The, 61. 
Emuluth, Charles, 589. 
Erickson, Jonas, 423. 
Erickson, Nels, 447, 449. 
Erie Township, History of, Chapter XXW'I, 

595. 
Ermine, The, 128. 
Evans, Edward, 633, 643, 644. 
Evergreen, The Township of. Chapter XLV, 

663. 
Farr, A. A., 627. 
Farr, Jerome G., 602, 604, 627. 
Fatal and Destructive Wind Storm, June 

9th, 597. 
Fairbanks, Benjamin, 264. 
Fairbanks, B. L., 742. 
Fairbanks, Mrs. Catherine Beaulieu, (Mrs. 

Robert Fairbanks), 260. 
Fairbanks, George A. Jr., 250, 264. 
Fairbanks, George Sr., 264. 
Fairbanks Family, The, 263. 
Fairbanks, Robert, 24, 250, 264. 
Fairbanks, R. P. 248. 
Fairbanks, Wm., 2o3. 
Fechner, Frederick, 650. 
Fichtner, John, 650. 
Fiend, A youthful, 669. 
Fifth Principal Meridian, 910. 
First Catholic Priest at White Earth, 263. 

Congressional Representatiyes, 16. 

Inhabitants, The, Chapter XIII, 210. 

Members of Congress, 16. 

People to winter in Becker County, dur- 
ing winter 1869 and 1870, 222. 

Sawmill at White Earth, 242. 

Settlement by White People, Chapter 
XVI, 220. 

State swamp land ever transferred, 209. 
Fisher, The, 107. 
Fisherman's dive saves life, 78. 
Fishes of Becker County, Chapter IX, by 

D. W. Meeker, 191, 192. 
Fletcher and Bly, 380. 
Floyd Lake, 23. 



Indkx. 



751 



Fond du Lac, 228, 229. 

Foster, Mrs. Mary McDougal, 271. 

Fountain, Mrs., 250. 

Fox, Black, 93. 

Cross, 89. 

Red, The, 87. 

Silver Grey, The, 91. 
Fox, Samuel J., 319, 320, 480. 
France, King of, 201. 
Frank, Miss Lottie, 225. 
Frazee, Hon. R. L., 66, 297, 309, 589, GOl. 
Frazee, The Mill, 715. 

Our thriving ^'illage, 148, 31, 3. 

Village of, 305. 

Incorporation, 308. 
Frazier, E. S., 614. 
Fremont, Gen. John C, 310. 
French, John O, 98, 217, 224, 237, 320, 333, 

398, 399, 583. 
Frick Mrs. Joseph, 303. 
Furber, Joseph E., 357. 
Furman, Julia, 447. 

Gah-wah-bah-bi-gon-i-kah, or White Earth, 248. 
Gardner, Chris., 275, Zo3. 
Gates, Rev. H. N., 350, 351, 560. 
Gebo, Frank, 659. 
Georgetown, Dak, 50. 
Gilbert, T. L. 68, 69. 
Gilbert, William, 634. 
Gilbertson, Mr. and Mrs. John, 377. 
Gimilan, Rev. J. A., 252. 
Gilfillan's, "father," self-sacrificing labors in 

the North Woods, 271. 
Gillian, John, 613, 622, 631. 
Gin-gion-cumig-oke, Death of, 248. 
Glander, John Detrich, Sr., 686. 
Golke, Ludwig, 651. 
Good Lake Township, History of, Chapter 

L, 686. 
Goodrich, Guy H., 411. 
Goodrich, Mrs. Hattie E., 411. 
Gopher, The Pocket, 154. 

Record. Detroit, 155. 

The Gray, 155. 

The Speckled, 156. 
Gordon, Lord, 553. 
Graham, John, 282. 
Grand Army of the Republic, 468. 
Grandelmyer, Mrs. Caroline, 267. 
Grand Forks, 104. 
Grand Park Township, History of, 643. 

Town of, 147. 
Grant, George W., 458. 
Grasshoppers, 145, 575. 
Graves and the grizzly bear, 95. 
Graves, C. H., & Co., 345. 
Green Valley, History of, 677. 
Gregory, Walter R., 555. 
Griffnow, Herman, 686. 
Grimsgard, Iver, 263. 



Graboritz, Michael, 651, 653. 

Guethling, John, 651. 

Gummer, Mrs. John., 285. 

Gurley, Father James, 555. 

Gurley, Walter, 406. 

Gurley, Rev. James, 405. 

Gurley, Father, 225, 340. 

Hagboe, Rev. B., 378. 

Haider, Annie and Lena, 698. 

Haight, Ed., 616, 617. 

Haight, Miss Sybil N., 621. 

Halgren, C. M., 454. 

Hall, Sylvanus, 66G. 

Halverson, Christine, 57. 

Halverson, Gabriel, 91, 484, 486. 

Halverson, Ole, 520. 

Hamden Township, Chapter XXVIII, 496. 

Township, 498. 

Township Organization, 505. 

Supplementary History of, by vv'alter W. 
Wilkins, 504. 
Hamilton, Geo. D., 134, 662, 670. 
Hamilton, Henry, 134. 
Hamre, Miss Dinah, 419. 
Haney, A. J., 276. 
Hanna, Miles, 600, 603. 
Hanson, Hans, 479. 
Hanson, I. J., 224. 
Hansor James, 471. 
Hanson, Thorville, 517. 
Hare, the Great, or Jack Rabbit, 133. 
Harrington, Geo., 677. 
"Hautuers," 21. 
Haven, J. E., carpenter, 251. 
Hawk's Nest, 51. 

Hawley, Rev. Fletcher J., D. D., 528. 
Hayden, Kimball, 400, 602. 
Hay den, W., 604. 

Hays, James P., Indian Agent, 254. 
Hazelton, W. D.. 5G4. 
Height of Land Lake, 23, 145, 211. 
Height of Land Township, History of. 

Chapter XLII, 647. 
Hemenway, Fanny N., 493. 
Heminway, Sophia, 494. 
Hendrickson, Matt, 683, 685. 
Hendy, L. D., 309, 568. 
Hennepin, Father, 689. 
Henning, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, 684. 
Henry, Alexander, 44, 47, 49, 61, 93, 101, 124, 

253, 256, 257, 261, 575, 701. 
Henshall, Dr., A recognized authority on 

fish, 192. 
Hernando De Soto Lake, 21, 22. 
Herrick, George, 113. 
Herrick, Miss Jessie, 653. 
Higbie, Albert E., 187, 597. 
Higbie, Mrs. A. E., 5%. 
Higbie. Claud E., 595. 
Higbie, Frank E., 695. 



752 



Indkx. 



Higley, F. M., 442. 

Higley, Mrs. F. M., 412, 414. 

Hoffman, William, 283. 

Hole-in-th-Day, £0«, 2.30, 139, 246, 254, 2li2. 

HoUiday, W. P., 622. 

Holmes, E. G., Hon., 209, .326, 334, 340, 545, 

606, 724, 725. 
Holmesville Township, History of. Chapter 

XX.W'II, 606. 
Homestead Law, 208. 
Horneck, Samuel N., 357. 
Horr, Frank, 616, 618. 
Horr-Kelly, 627. 
Hought, Eber, 671, 676. 
Houglum, Andrew A., 428. 
Hoveland, Jonas, 449. 
Hoveland, Ole, 449. 
Howard, William B., 285, 286. 
Howard, William W., 221, 289. 
Howe, Millard E., 45, 329. 
Howe, W. H. H., 276. 
Hoyle & Nunn, 68, 69. 
Huotari, Charles, 305. 
Indian Mounds, 211. 
Irving, Washington, 70, 201. 
Isaacson, J., 317. 
Isola, Wm., 685. 
Itasca State Park, 21. 

Lake, 21, 22. 
Jacobson, Gustav, 423, 424. 
Jacobson, Peter R., 523. 
Jahr, O. J., 592. 
James River, Dakota, 51. 
Jamestown, Dakota, 52, 53. 
Jarvimaki, Andrew, 683, 685. 
Jarvis, D. O., 78. 
Jones, A. J., 634. 
Jones, Harvey, 582. 
Jones, John H., 643. 
Jones, Thomas, 608. 
Jones, Roy W., 715. 
Johnson, Anthony, 598. 
Johnson, Frank A., 353. 
Johnson, Fred, 222, 373. 
Johnson, Gudm F., 425. 
Johnson, Rev. John, (Enmcgahhowh), 225, 

245, 261, 262. 
Johnson, N. P., 598. 
Johnson, Ole, 525. 
Johnston, James, 384. 

Johnston, Col. George Henry, 321, 326, 354, 
584, 585, 587. 

Death of, 355. 
Journal Audubon, 378. 

Extracts from, 403. 

Boston, 320. 
On Park Region, 234, 235. 

Indianapolis, 151. 

Minneapolis, 272. 
Joy, Silas S., 475. 



Judges of Probate, 739. 
Kab-a-ma-be, 400. 
Ka-ba-mah-bie, 212. 
Ka-ka-ba-she, Capture of, 394, 
Kalthoff, Henry, 693. 
Kelly, Emmet, 627. 
Kelly, Hamilton, 406. 
Keyes, Thomas, 241. 
Keys, Thomas, 280. 
Kinunen, Abel, 683. 
Kittelson, Ole, 510, 513, 532, 533. 
Kittson, Miss Elizabeth Ann, 231. 
Knapp, Mrs. Elizabeth C, 689. 
Knudson, Iver T., 480. 
Kohler, Arnold, death of, 665. 
Komansparger, Anthony, 283. 
Kuha, Mr. and lilrs. Paul, 675. 
LaChance, Mr., 249. 
Laite, Lars P., 517. 

Lake Eunice, The first settlement of. Chap- 
ter XXV, 456. 

Township, 115, 457. 
Lakes and Rivers, Chapter IV, 21. 
Lake Park Township, Chapter XXIII, 412. 

Township, 115, 205. 
History of, 414. 

Times Salutatory, 441. 

Township, organization, 433. 

Orphans' Home, 432. 

Village, History of, 440. 
Lake View Township, History of. Chapter 
XXVI, 469. 

Township, 148. 

Early settlement, 472. 

First school in, 473. 
Lamb, Billy, 385. 
Lambert, Mrs. Mary, 255. 
Lamphier, Charles H., and shooting of L. J. 

Jeswin, 665. 
Larson, Henry J., 397, 555. 
Larson, Henry J., 397. 
Larson, Mr. and Mrs. Henry J., 377. 
Larson, Lars A., 400, 519. 
Lass, William, 686. 
Learman, George, 100. 
Ledeboer, Arnold A., 270. 
Ledeboer, Mrs. A. A., 256. 
Ledeboer, Mrs. Jennie, 258. 
Lee, Samuel, 243, 247. 

Road, the. 219. 
Leech Lake, 227. 
Lehman, Frank, 633. 
Lemon, Z. T. , 631. 
Leupp, Indian Commissioner, 198. 
Lewis, J. G., 630. 
Linnel, Mrs. A. M., 632. 
Lisk, John, 293. 

Local, Lake Park; Killing a bear, 100. 
Lofstrum, Nels, 117. 
Long, Maj., 45. 



Index. 



753 



Long, William, 564. 

Loomis, Col., Land Commissioner of the 

Northern Pacific, 552. 
Lord, Rev. Dr., 225, 235, 23G, 317. 
Louisiana Purchase, 200. 
Lowell, E B., 241. 
Lynde, John, 394. 
Lynx, the, 78. 
McArthur, Archibald, 275, 320. 
McArthur, Wm. \V., 250, 270. 
McCabe, — . — ., of Minneapolis, 242. 
McCart, Bill, 58. 
McCart, H. G., 651. 
McCarthy, Clarence, 320. 
McClellan, General, and relative, 237. 
McClelland, John, 458, 460, 463. 
McClelland, Mrs. John, 459. 
M'Cleod, \V. W., 100. 
McCoy, James, 237, 550. 
McDonald, Billy; A stabbing affray, 301. 
McDonald, Donald, 220, 271, 277. 
McDonell, Archibald B., 461. 
McDonell, John A. B., 286. 
McDonell's, John, Journal, 49. 
McDonell, William, 286. 
McDougal, Mrs. Duncan, 271. 
McDougall, George, 277. 
M'cDougall, Alex., 742. 
McDougall, Donald, 742. 
McFee, Robert, 289. 
McGrew, Hon. James G., 410, 582. 
Mcintosh, Mrs. A. J., 258. 
McKay, Daniel, 412. 
McKinley, Miss Flora, 679. 
McKinley, S. S., 613, 615, 618. 
McKinstry, Lester C, 85, 326, 411, 544, 546, 

743. 
McKinstry, William P., 326. 
McLeod, W. W., 244, 453, 454, 491, 494, 564. 
McMartin, Wm., 531. 
McPhee, Robert, and family, 283. 
Macgillivray, Wm., 130. 
Mackenzie Alexander, 210. 
Mackenzie River, 210. 
Ma-king, 213. 

Mackintosh, Elizabeth, 256. 
Maltby, Dr. Dexter J., 352. 
Maple, the Oak and the Pine, The, Cha;)ter 

LIV, 701. 
Making maple sugar, 702. 
Martin, C. W., 696. 
Martin, Penn W., 692, G99. 
Martin, Thomas J., 320, 468, 548, 726. 
Matson, Knut, 447, 449. 
]Mattson, Celum, 69. 
Maunu, John, 672, 673. 
Maxwell, James, 283, 298. 
Mee, Mrs. Alice J., 255. 
Meeker, D. W., 186. 



Meilie, Alfred, 329, 605. 

Methodist Church, 225. 

Mews, August, 650. 

Mills, T., 271. 

Minnesota country west of ^Mississippi River 

claimed by France, 201. 
Minnesota Natural History Survey, 160. 
Mink, the American, 126. 
Miscellaneous, 740. 
Mix, Annis, 224, 471. 
Mix, David, 474. 
Mix, Mrs. David, 470. 
Molen, Charles E., 136, 656. 
Moore and Overholser, 630. 
Moore, Evan J., 630, 631. 
Moore, Miss Flora, 440. 
Moore, John G., 634. 
Moore, Sylvester, 468. 
Moore, Tim, 250. 
Moore, Willie, 58. 
Moores, True, 241. 
Moose, the, 57. 
Morgan, John B., 407. 
Morison, Allan F., 270. 
Morison, George A., 93, 232, 266, 268. 
Morrison, Allan, Jr., 270. 
Morrison, Allan l.., 230, 271, 640, 742. 
Morrison, Allan, Sr., 266. 
Morrison, Dan. S., 742. 
Morrison, George Donald, 231. 
Morrison, John, 742. 
Morrison, John George, 267. 
Morrison, Mr. and Mrs. John George, 268. 
Morrison (Aygans), Joseph, 230, 231. 
Morrison, Miss Rachel, 267. 
Morrison (Dekaince), Richard, 231. 
Morrison, William, 220, 271, 640. 

Discoverer of sovirce of Mississijipi River, 
227. 

Visits Lake Itasca, 227. 
Morrow, George, 384, 740. 
Mosquitoes, Prairie Fires and Grasshoppers, 

Chapter XXXI, 571. 
Mouchamp, Mr., 249. 
Moulthrope, Mrs. Ellen, 303. 
Mouse, the field, 156. 

the wood or deer, loG. 

the house, 157. 

the jumping, 157. 
Mun-ne-do-wab, 247. 
Murray, A. K., engineer, 251. 
Murray, Charles, 69. 
Muskrat, 145. 
My first three years in Becker County. By 

A. H. Wilcox, Chapter XXX, 53. 
Nay-bon-ash-kung, 247. 
Neil, Rev. E. D., in History of Minnesota, 

22, 204, 216. 
Nelson, Even, 425. 



754 



Index. 



Nelson-Kindred Convention, The; from "H. 
P. Hall's Observations," Chapter L\', 
716. 
Nelson, Hon. Knute, 225, 274. 
Nelson, Mats, 447, 449. 
Nelson, Nels, 429. 
Netland, A. O., 293. 
Neuner, George, 601, 603. 
Neuner, George, and wife, 329. 
Neuner, Frank, 603. 
Neuner, John, 603. 

New England Colony, History of, 321. 
Nichols-Chisolm Lumber Company, the, 711. 

711. 
Nichols, John, 51. 
Nichols, M. v., farmer, 251. 
Noben, Ole O., 593. 
Noble, Rev. Dr., 12. 
Norby, John G., 430. 

Northern Pacific Railroad Company, 17, 19. 
Northern Pacific Railroad Exploring Expe- 
dition, 41. 

Explorations, Chapter XVII., 234. 

Railroad Grant, 207. 
North Star steamboat, 218. 
Northup, Anson , expedition, 218. 
Northwest Fur Co., 43, 44, 220, 227, 228, 229, 
271. 

Official report, 1789, 43. 
Nunn, James, 115, 144. 
North-Wind, Old, 65, 93, 94, 104. 
1871 to 1877, 600. 
Oak Grove Cemetery, 345. 
Oakes, Mrs. Julia Beaulieu, 2(50. 
Oak Lake, 23, 67, 146, 153, 221. 

V'illage, 379. 
O'Neil, Patrick, 282, 2o5. 
Oelfke, Carl, 78, 052. 
Oelfke, Charles, 101. ^ 

Oelfke, Fred, 652. 
Oelfke, Henry, 652. 
Old Fort William Henry, 229. 
Old Red River Road, the. Chapter XV, 217. 
Old Soldiers, Chapter LVIII, 733. 
Olsen, Martin, 510. 
Olson, Barney, 522. 
Olson, Chris, 559. 
Olson, John, 517. 
Olson, Martin, 414. 
Olson, Ole E., and family, 453. 
Olson, Peter E., 520. 
Olson, Sandore, 447. 
Olson, Severt, 449. 
Olund, Swan, 606, 607. 
Omans, Frank, and wife, G64. 
Opossum, the, 124. 
Osage Township, History of. Chapter 

XXXVIII, 610. 
Osage; Its development, 615. 

The Roads, 616. 



Osborne, George, 412. 

Otter Tail River, 19, 21, 66, 113, 129, 140, 
210. 

Otter, the, 113. 

Outposts at White Earth, 261. 

Overholser, Levi, 630, 631. 

Owen, Prof. Dale, 19. 

Paakhonen, Jacob, 305. 

Paris, treaty of, 22nd February, 1819, 204. 

Parker, Jane, 248. 

Parker, Peter, and Buddise, 137. 

Parker, Peter (Bahbewob), 61, 93, 248, 263. 

Panther, the, 73. 

Papineau, D. B., 269. 

Park Region, first newspaper in Frazee, 312. 

Park Region of Minnesota, 41. 

Peabody, P. S., 461, 462. 

Peake, Charley, 242. 

Peake, Fred, 220, 242. 

Peake, Rev. Mr., 261. 

Pearce, Samuel, 66, 304. 

Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel, 295. 

Pearce, Samuel, and son Thomas, 570. 

Pederson, L. W., 431. 

Peel's River, 106. 

Pelican Valley Navigation Company, 475. 

Peterson, John, 104. 

Peterson, Ole, 225, 3i2. 

Perrot, Nicholas, 200. 

Phelps, Luther. 622. 

Phelps, William W., 16. 

Phinney, John Harding, 353. 

Pike, Lieut. Z. M., 45, 62. 

Pine Marten, the, 110. 

Pinney, S. B., 275, 319, 380, 384, 537, 569. 

Plants; new species have followed civiliza- 
tion, 36-40. 

Poe, Adam, slayer of Big Foot, 197. 

Ponsford, 144. 

Pope Alexander \\., bull of, 203. 

Porcupine, the, 146. 

Porter, Aliss Abbie C, 310. 

Potter, Mrs. C. H., 285. 

Power, James B., 553. 

Prairie fires, 573. 

Prairies and Natural Parks, Chapter ^'^. 41. 

Preface, 3. 

Probsfield, Hon. R. M., 49, 51, 61, 62, 70, 
218, 219, 572. 

Progress, The, first newspaper printed on 
White Earth Reservation, 272-275. 

Purdy, Daniel, 632. 

Pyle, Dr. David, 222, 275, 407, 483, 507. 
Certificate of appointment as notary puD- 
lic, 10. 

Oualey, Ole, 489. 
! Quam, Erick S., 432. 

Quarterly Journal, Boston Zoological So- 
ciety, \'ol. IT, 1SS3, 100. 

Quinlan, Patrick, 221, 2^^, 278, 282, 298. 



Index. 



755 



Rabanus, William and Charles, 660. 
Rabbit, the Cottontail, 137. 

The Northern, or hare, 135. 
Raccoon, the, 123. 
Rand, Charles W., 560. 
Ramstad, L. O., 498. 
Rat, the common barn or gray, 148. 
Redpath, William, 280, 282, 285, 289, 659. 
Red River, 47, 49, 50. 
Reep, Olaus, 224. 
Reep, Sevald, Mr. and Mrs, 224. 
Registers of Deeds, 738. 
Renwanz, Emma, 646. 
Reynolds, Reuben, 351. 
Richardson, Sir John, 121. 
Richwood Township, History of. Chapter 
XXVII, 479. 

Organized, 489. 

Village, History of, 490. 
Rider, Amelia, 285. 
Ripley, Dr., 463. 
Ristvedt, Michael, 525. 
Roberts, Capt. William C, 359, 554, 560. 
Roberts, Thos. S., M. D., 159. 
Rock, John, a Pine Point Indian, 211, 271. 
Kogan, Bill, 293, 294. 
Ronssain, Miss, 231. 
Rosenow, William, 651. 
Ross, Capt. J. C, 107. 
Rosser, General, 237. 

Rossman, William W., 320, 363, ..6. 583. 
Rossman, Miss Lottie, 514. 
Roy, Frank, 250. 
Rumery, E., 608. 
Runeberg Township, History of. Chapter 

XLVII, 671. 
Rutledge, Miss Katherine, 303. 
Rutterman, John, 566. 
Rutterman, Mr. and Mrs. John, 471. 
St. Ildefonso, treaty of, 204. 
St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, 15. 
Sanders, Noble, 471. 
Sanderson, A. W., 610, 614. 
Sandsness, Miss Mary H., 420. 
Sandy Lake, 228. 
Savannah Township, 121. 
Savannah, The History of, Chapter LIT, 692. 

The Lost Children, 698. 

Trading Post at Stony Ridge, 697. 
697. 

Wild Animals, 696. 
Sawyer, William, 271. 
Schnitzer, Charles, 604. 
Scctt, Charles, 565. 
Scott, James, 285. 
Scribner, Charles, 664. 
Senacle, George, 58. 
Severance, M. H., 567. 
Severtson, Peter A., 449. 
Shaw, Marcus, 655, 726, 741. 



Sheehan, Capt. Timothy, 410. 
Shell Prairie, 66. 

Shell Road, Chapter XLIII, 654. 
Shell Lake, 23, 144. 

Shell Prairie Road, Chapter XLIiI, 654. 
Shell Prairies, 42. 
Shepard, F. M., 677, 681. 
Spencer, Charles E., 688. 
Sheriffs, 738. 

Sherman, A. W., 221, 224, 280, 315, 317, 331. 
Sherman, C. A., or Alma, 319. 
Sherman, Mrs. Lois, 333. 
Sheyenne River, North ijakota, 118. 
Shoenberger, John, 656. 
Shoff, D., 277. 

Shooting of Harry Byron, 347. 
Siegford, Frank, 224. 
Siegford, G. F., 610, 613, 616. 
Siegford, J. F., 224, 610, 616, G17, 620. 
Siegford and Son, 621. 

Silver Leaf Township, History of. Chapter 
XLIV, 659. 

Murder ana suicide, 661. 
Simmons, John B., 475. 
Sivertson, S. F., 115, 128. 
Skaiem, Erick, 546. 
Skunk, the, 120. 

Anatomy and physiology of anal glands, 
120. 

Rabies mephitica, Hovey, 122. 
Sletten, Paul C, 372, 409. 
Sloan, Mrs. Mary A., 267. 
Small, Capt. Freeman K., 387, 407, 582, 583. 
Small, Mrs. F. K., 408. 
Smith, C. E., 696. 

Smith, E. P., new Indian agent, 251. 393. 
Smith, Rev. Fred, 246. 
Smith, Gregory J., Governor of X'ermont, 

234. 
Smith, J. A. B., 296. 
Snyder, John, 631. 
Soper, Robert, 656. 
Soper, Robert, and wife, 649. 
Soronen, Jeremias, 684, 
Special Deputy U. S. Marshals, 741. 
Spears, Mrs. Julia A., 225, 255, 256, 259, 264, 

269. 
Spears, William R., 255, 742. 
Sperling, Carl, Sr., 650. 
Sperry, L. D., 221, 315, 317, 546. 
Spruce Grove Township, History of. Chapter 

XL VI, 666. 
.Squirrel, the black and gray, 150. 

The flying, 153. 

Red, 152. 
State Senators, 736. 
Stearns, John, 79. 
Stebbins, S. S., 556. 
Steele, Kidder Co., N. D., 119. 
Stephens, Mr. and Mrs. M. E., 627. 



756 



Index. 



Stevenson, L. G., 276, 547. 

Stokes, Harry and Lambert, 660. 

Sturtevant, C. H., 567, 655, 741. 

Sullivan, Hugh, 524. 

Sunram, Wilhelm, 651. 

Sutherland, J. H., 344, 741. 

Sutherland, Mrs. J. IT., 494, 495. 

Taylor, Bayard, 41, 50.3. 

Taylor, George W., 360. 

Taylor, John, 633. 

Taylor, Oliver, 423. 

Taylor, Oscar, 271. 

Teague, John A., 327, 562. 

Tecumseh's brother, "The Prophet," 22S. 

The Seasons, Chapter L\ ll, 728. 

The Winter of 1872-3, 728. 

Thomas, Capt. Isaac M., 356. 

Thompkins, S. M., 307. 

Thompson, Wm., 220, 241, 280. 

Ihompson, Louis, 399. 

Thompson & Peake, 242. 

Tribune, Chicago, 42. 

Minneapolis, account of Cook murder, 394. 
Trieglaff, Albert, 303. 
Trieglaff, August, 283, 660. 
Trieglaff, August, Sr., 301, 303, 
Trieglaff, Carl, 303. 
Trieglaff, Robert, 303. 
Trieglaff, William, 303. 
Treaties with Mississippi, Pillager and Lake 

Winnebegoshish Indians, 205, 206. 
Treed by a bear, 698. 
Trivett, John, 669. 
Troppman, Paul, 666. 
Toad Lake, 115. 
Tomahaivh. White Earth, 198. 
Tomazine, Father, 249, 263. 
Torgerson, T. K., 658, 741. 
Two Inlets, Township of, Chajiter LI, 688. 
Tyer, Melvin M., 320. 
Ukkestad, Ingel, 431. 
Uran, Mrs. George, 250. 
Uran, Wm., 93. 

Van \'alkenberg, George, 240, 247, 263. 
Vanderwarter, M. W^, 689. 
Van Gorden, J. E., 276, 491, 492. 
\'an Norse, Mr. 242. 
Vannose, Leon, 320. 
Vannose, Max, 320. 
Van Sickler, L M., and wife, 661. 
N'iger, Nub Nelson, 561, 592. 
Wah-bon-ah-quod, 247. 
Waite, Simon, 145. 

Wakefield, Joseph, 220, 239, 240, 241, 248. 
Walworth 'I'ownsliip, History of. Chapter 

XX X\', 594. 
First town meeting, 598. 
Warr, Miss Elizabeth, 304. 
Warren, .Alfred, 250. 
Warren, Edward L., 743, 745, 746. 



Warren, Eugene J., 742. 

Warren, Henry W., 256, 741. 

Warren, James, 240, .-i7, 249, 255. 

Warren, John B., 742. 

Warren, Lyman M., 253. 

Warren, Madeline, 250. 

Warren, Mark, 222, 232. 

Warren, Mrs. Sophia, 265. 

Warren, Truman A., 221, 239, 246, 247, 255. 

Warren, Tyler, 69, 250. 

Warren, William Whipple, 197, 212, 256. 

Warter, Mrs. Joseph, 303. 

Washburn, Miss Jeanette, 408. 

Watleson, Rev. T., 225, o.ei, 435. 

Way, Clara D., 224. 

Way, Henry, 214, 220, 244, 280, 315, 317, 330, 

401, 615. 
Way, Henry, Mr. and Mrs., 224. 
Way, Henry, Sherman, Sperry and Stillman 

families, 236. 
Way, Mrs. Jane A., 333. 
Weasel, the, 130. 
Wee, Andrew O., 520, 523. 
West, Mrs. Jessie C, 4, 328, 358. 
West, John K., 358. 
Wellman, Capt. D. L., 294, 314. 
Western Land Improvement Association, 

stock certificate, 321. 
New York, squirrels in, 151. 
Weymouth, Luther, 283, 297, 307, 310. 
Weymouth, Mrs. Luther, 292. 
Whaples, D. W., 647. 
Whipple, Bishop, 197, 262, 265. 
Whipple, C. H., 241, 606. 
White Cloud, 247, 274. 
White Earth, 104. 
History of, 246. 
Reservation, 42. 
Reservation, History, of the. Chapter 

XVIII, 239. 
Township, Organization of, by R. G. 

Beaulieu, Chapter LIII, 700. 
Whitehead, James, 251, 394, 401. 
Whittemore, A. A., 726. 
Wilcox, A. H., 187, 209, 307, 313, 470, 484, 

498, 603, 626, 644, 647, 649, 743. 
Wilcox, Mrs. A. H., 67, 117, 126, 136, 153, 

398, 545, 546, 656, GST. 
Wilcox, C. P., 150, 265, 476, 545, 548. 
Wilcox, Hosmer H., 326, 548. 
Wilcox, Warlo, 98. 
Wild Cat, the, 79. 
Wilkins, W. W., 507, 740. 
Wilson, Eugene M., 234. 
Wilson, Johnson, 283. 
Wilson, George, 355. 
Windom, Hon. Wm., 234, 503. 
Winram, James, 280, 281, 282, 289, 301. 

shot by an Indian, 289. 
Winters, Mrs. Delia, 250. 



Index. 



757 



Wirkkanen, John, 6S3. 
Wirkkanncn, Mr. and Mrs. John, 682. 
Wiseman, Merritt, 51. 
Witter, A. L., 633. 
Witter, D. M., 633. 
Witter, Henry F., 633. 
Wright, Charles J., 567. 
Wright, E. L., 283, 298. 
Wright, George B., 285, 286. 
Wright, George P>., general land agent 
Northern Pacific, 552. 



Wolf, experiences with, 82, 83, 84. 

The gray or timber, 80. 

The prairie or coyote, 85. 
W^olf Lake Township, History of, Chapter 

XLIX, 683. 
Wolverine, the, 104. 
Woodchuck, the, 148. 
Wood, Rev. John E., 224, 285, 361. 
Woodworth, William G., 275. 



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